Luke Fixed It
by junienmomo
Summary: COMPLETE. Enough was enough. When faced with a disaster that had been largely ignored by everyone else in Stars Hollow, Luke decided to fix it. Season 4 had lots of things to fix, let's see how much Luke gets done, and what the consequences are. Javajunkie pure. THANKS to betasUpWithLuke and Brittaden! Note: a ref to a fanfic in the last chapter is Original Sin by damnmydooah.
1. Luke Fixed It

Luke Fixed It

"Well, I hope Luke went on that cruise with Nicole. He could use a good vacation. Plus, he really seems to like her," Rory said as they walked through Stars Hollow, visiting friends and distributing the souvenirs they'd bought on their European vacation. Rory shifted her backpack, wishing they'd bought fewer gifts so she and Lorelai wouldn't still be lugging these backpacks around today.

Lorelai could never imagine being truly uncomfortable around Rory, but this last comment had her fidgeting and trying vainly to change the subject. _Luke couldn't have gone on that vacation. He never takes vacations. As a matter of fact, he's not even really dating Nicole. We never see her around Stars Hollow. How could our Luke date someone who lives somewhere else?_

On their way to Luke's, they noticed Taylor's ice cream store had opened, and judging by the noise inside, it seemed to be popular. The noise, however, was coming all from Luke, Taylor's landlord.

"You put a giant window in my wall!" Luke yelled, the vein on his head getting dangerously large.

"So what?" asked Taylor.

"A giant window! Right here! You can see my entire diner. And when I'm in my diner, I can see your whole stupid store."

"I don't understand why yours is a diner and mine is a stupid store."

"Look at this place! Look at you. All you need is six dancing penguins and Mary Poppins floating in the corner to bring back two of the worst hours of my childhood."

"I don't think you had a childhood. I think you came out a bitter surly killjoy."

"You can't change the basic structure of this place without my okay!" Luke noticed Taylor looking concerned. "What?"

"Um, Luke, your hand is near the wax lips."

"So?"

"If you could just move it so you don't accidentally touch the candy. Lucas."

Angered, Luke rummaged freely through the different boxes of candy.

"What are you doing? You stop that right now!" reprimanded Taylor.

Luke began throwing candy in the air. "Look at all the pretty candy!"

"Agh, stop it right now!"

"Luke's finally lost it," commented Rory.

At that moment, Luke saw that Lorelai and Rory were standing outside the ice cream store. With one last glare at Taylor, and a promise, "We're not done with this, Taylor," he left to greet the girls.

"Hi Luke," greeted Lorelai. "Everything OK in there?"

"Well, you know, Taylor's being Taylor. Did you see what he did? He put a window in my diner wall! All my stuff, all my father's stuff is gone! The shelf is gone! My dancing pork chop…"

"Gone?"

"Yes! Gone!" Luke gesticulated wildly with his arms, pacing back and forth in front of his friends. "He destroyed the connection to my father that I worked so hard to preserve."

Suddenly his shoulders sagged and a wave of sadness took over his body. The blood drained from his face and threatened to bring him to the ground. He bent over at the waist, breathing deeply as he fought off a panic attack. His stomach churned and his pulse raced.

Seeing Luke so upset about his father's things hit Lorelai in her gut. Years ago, she and Luke had shared a moment when she helped him choose paint for the diner. As they discussed colors, he shared stories about his father in a way he'd rarely talked either before or since. Everything in the store was precious to him, and now Taylor had stolen a big piece of that memory from Luke.

Touched by the remembrance, she reached out and put her hand on his shoulder. "Luke. I'm so sorry. I know how much that wall meant to you," she said. In sympathy, Rory mimicked her mother's action.

Slowly Luke returned to a standing position, his color closer to normal.

He looked at Lorelai for a long moment, searching, making the connection to painting the diner he'd long since repressed. She did know what that wall meant. That wall, and the list on the side of the cabinet in his father's handwriting. Louie's funeral. Parenting Jess. They'd shared all of those things. She'd been there for him when no one else had. _God, where had the years gone, and what the hell am I doing in this situation? First Nicole, now this damn window._

"Luke, let's go into the diner and get you something to drink. You don't look well." Rory was concerned now, even a little frightened for him. He just kept staring at them.

"Biscotti?" offered Lorelai, holding up one of their last precious cookies.

Luke blinked a few times, trying to comprehend the purpose of biscotti when his mind was full of so many other things. "Biscotti?" he repeated dully. "No, I don't want any biscotti."

He shook his head, shaking off the biscotti confusion. "Thanks, girls," he said, looking at his feet as he gathered his emotions. "It's really good to have you back. I missed you." He snaked an arm across each of their shoulders, wedging his large biceps between their necks and their backpacks, and gave them each a quick one-armed hug.

He looked back at the ice cream shop, then at the window, thoughtful. Talking more to himself than Lorelai and Rory, he spoke with calm determination.

"Enough. I've had enough of this. I fix things all the time for other people. It's about time I fixed some things for myself."

Without another word to the Gilmores, Luke stalked off around the corner of the diner and disappeared.


	2. Giant Popsicle

**Author's Note: **This chapter contains an homage to Deepfriedcake's brilliant _The Truth is Out There_. Please go read it if you haven't yet. s/11153405/1/The-Truth-Is-Out-There

DFC, Mag68 (Kevin makes another appearance here) and many others are my inspiration.

* * *

"Sookie, it was so strange. First Luke was yelling at Taylor, then he had a panic attack. The last we heard from him was 'It's about time I fixed some things for myself.' He disappeared around the corner and no one has seen him since."

"I think Luke has lost it, Mom," added Rory. "He didn't look so good."

"I wonder if it has anything to do with Nicole," said Sookie. "He came back from the cruise and won't talk to anyone about it. He's acting weirder than normal."

"Talk about weird, he actually hugged us and told us he was glad we were back," said Rory. "That's awfully sweet of him. Sweet, but not normal for Luke."

Lorelai deliberately put on her clueless expression. "Huh, wonder what that's all about." She stretched her legs out in the lawn chair, enjoying the perfect sunny day.

Luke wasn't the only person acting weird. Normally Lorelai would have immediately badgered Luke until he either confessed or angrily clammed up, but this morning she just stood there mute while he hugged her and walked away.

_Hugged me?! Luke hugged me? That's not good. The only thing that keeps our relationship on a platonic level is distance. Of course, it also helps to have the physical counter between us when I'm in the diner. Luke was definitely behaving strangely, but why? In spite of all the moments we've shared, we never crossed the line. Why now, when he has a girlfriend? _

Lorelai planned to find out.

Once Jackson ordered Sookie inside to "prevent exposing Baby to the elements," Lorelai and Rory distributed the rest of the souvenirs to their friends, only noticing at the end that they'd neglected to buy Luke a gift. Against Rory's advice, Lorelai decided to try to pass off jam from the Bellevue household as a gift from France. Sensing disaster in the making, Rory refused to join Lorelai when she gave Luke the jam.

As Lorelai crossed the square, prettily-wrapped jam in hand, Luke pulled his truck to a stop in front of the diner. He hopped out and began unloading sawhorses from the truck bed. _This is going to be a great day. I'm going to fix this._ His look of calm determination relaxed his expression compared to his screaming match with Taylor this morning.

He unfolded the brackets for the first horse, deftly inserted the two by fours and set the horse up next to the diner window.

"Hi Luke," Lorelai began, but was cut off before she could complete a sentence.

"Hey, could you step over to the side? I'm trying to get this done ASAP. Got a lot going on this afternoon and I don't have time to waste."

His expression was totally different from this morning's stressed look. There was a gentleness about his eyes, he looked satisfied, relaxed.

Luke dropped the hardware pieces for the second sawhorse on the sidewalk near Lorelai's feet. The metal parts clattered and she neatly sidestepped a bracket that fell off the pile, almost cutting her foot.

"Watch it! I almost lost a toe!" she cried, a criticism which fell on deaf ears. There was also a touch of whininess in her voice, bugged that he described talking to her as a 'waste of time."

"I told you to get out of the way," he warned. He grabbed a few more two by fours, then turned to Lorelai, who had still not moved yet. "Lorelai, please. I really need to get this done."

Undeterred by Luke's request, she grinned and said, "We brought you a souvenir from Europe."

"Can we do this later?" he pleaded. He had wood to cut and tools to use.

"We were in Paris, and found this most amazing store." Her eyes grew big and she nodded her head enthusiastically as she described their 'discovery' of the jamstress.

"Evidently we do have to do this now," Luke sighed. He shifted his feet, looked for a way to get out of this, but finally gave up.

While she babbled about who knows what, he ran his To-Do list through his head, none of which allowed time today for inane banter.

It wasn't that he didn't enjoy the banter, or the jokes, or being with Lorelai, it was just that these two problems needed to be dealt with urgently. He refused to wait any longer.

Ever since that miserable night when Mimi came to the diner and ripped his heart out, Luke had vowed to prove to himself that he wasn't in love with Lorelai anymore. That had succeeded, thanks to his relationship with Nicole. Jess' goading about how Lorelai treated Luke like dirt pushed him over the edge when a beautiful woman like Nicole landed literally on his doorstep. Open, actively seeking a relationship with him, he was gratified and responded as enthusiastically as any man who dates a woman who cares more for him than he would ever care for her.

With Nicole on his arm, full of ideas for fun dates, gazing at him adoringly, thrilled to be with him, Jess' cruel words receded into a distant memory. He kicked himself mentally, though, every time he found himself devaluing his relationship with Nicole in front of his Stars Hollow fellow citizens. "We're just dating, we're just this, we're just that. She's not my girlfriend." He couldn't help himself; he just blurted them out when townies pried too much into his private life. Those devaluations were cracks in his armor of self-delusion, a sign that maybe Luke still wasn't over Lorelai.

If he'd been a man who had less to prove he would have broken up with Nicole long ago. He knew it wasn't fair to her; hell, life was unfair to everyone, but occasionally he still regretted not finding a way to break it off. The problem was, every time he got close to ending the relationship, something happened to remind him that this relationship with Nicole was the only thing that stood between him and being a complete and utter failure with women.

He almost broke it off with Nicole after the inn caught fire. The night Lorelai stayed in Luke's apartment she found it necessary to tell him about her Sid and Nancy dream. She was lying in his bed, telling him about the pregnancy and being together, faithful to each other. He shared that bed with Nicole once. The night Lorelai slept there erased any thought of Nicole. He barely got any sleep thinking about Lorelai's dream as his own dreams passionately filled in the details that would have led to the pregnancy. A day or two later, however, Nicole called and he found it easier to slide back into the easy, relaxed, utterly uninteresting rhythm that he and Nicole had achieved. Nicole had her boyfriend, and her boyfriend had his delusion.

Lorelai pulled him constantly between two emotions. On the one hand there were just enough special moments between the two of them that he hoped one day they could be resolved in his favor. It was during those moments that he was completely convinced that she did have feelings for him.

Those moments were unfortunately always counterbalanced by the doubt caused by her words. The intimacy would feel so strong that he was on the verge of going further, taking the chance. He'd see it in her eyes, the questioning, even hoping, until suddenly her eyes darted back and forth and she opened her mouth. Her words undid them every time. Those damn words! Always words from Lorelai, never action. Even when he pushed as far as he dared, like at Rory's graduation, when he all but begged her to tell him not to go on the cruise, she ran away verbally, stumbling over her own words in her haste to avoid the discussion they'd needed to have for years.

Luke was sick of Lorelai's words, so he went on the damn cruise, even when Nicole, sensing her opportunity with him, changed the vacation from a drive across western Canada and a three day Alaskan cruise to a seven-country cruise, a two week blowout that she claimed she won in a charity raffle. He knew she'd paid for it, that she'd lied just to get him to come with her. Nicole was lying about something else as well, Luke could sense it, but he simply didn't care enough to try to find out more. What they had was good enough to mostly keep his delusion alive.

Fragile though his delusion was, Luke clung to it. He didn't need Lorelai, he was dating someone, Lorelai was not. Someone loved him, even as Lorelai cruised down a river of denial about their relationship. Unless …Luke pondered a moment. What if Lorelai wasn't in denial? Maybe Lorelai really didn't feel anything more for him than friendship? Why couldn't she just stop talking and finally say what she wanted?

Oh, fuck, there was that doubt again, trapping him in that endless loop of Lorelai's indecisiveness. They would share a moment that filled him with hope, followed by a thousand words which communicated absolutely nothing. Now things had gone so far downhill with Nicole that he had to end that relationship. The cruise showed him just how far a delusion could go. There was no way to end it now without hurting them both. The worst part was, when it was over, he would be right back where he started.

But Nicole was task number 2 on his To-Do list. Task 1 was Taylor. Today was the last day Luke was ever going to take Taylor's shit. No more yelling, no more throwing candy impotently in the air. He was going to fix it, because if there was one thing Luke Danes knew, it was how to fix things.

Today Luke would fix his diner; he would not let Taylor run roughshod over him again. With Task 2 he would take back his manhood.

Coming back to the moment, he looked at Lorelai. She was still talking. Unbelievable. He had to admire her stamina-he would have passed out long ago from so little oxygen. Oh wait, now she was smiling, holding something out to him.

Baffled, he shifted the boards in his arms and took the jar of jam. He blinked several times, trying vainly to remember even the tiniest thing she'd said, to find some clue. He came up empty, so he looked at the jar and searched for something to say.

"That looks like the kind of jar my mother used for jam every summer." Turning the jar a little, he read the raised text molded into the glass. "Made in USA," he read aloud.

He watched as a pink blush briefly stained Lorelai's cheeks, followed by her blurted confession that she'd gotten the jam from Jackson.

"Tell ya what," Luke said, "Why don't you just keep it? I don't eat that much jam in a year, and Jess isn't here anymore, so it would just sit in my fridge forever."

Momentarily subdued, Lorelai took the jar back and went into the diner to wait for Rory and lunch.

* * *

Lorelai sat in the diner, not too far from the window where she could see Luke, but wasn't staring directly at him. She could see him laying a piece of plywood on the sawhorses, grabbing a tape measure and running into the diner.

A man on a mission, he didn't even see her try to get his attention as he went to the new window. He measured the inside of the window at several points, making sure it had square corners and was the same size on all sides. He wrote down the measurements, then double-checked them by measuring again.

Luke was in his zone with this work. Bookshelves, storage shelves, steps, any kind of simple carpentry came easy to him. Even his greatest creation, the chuppah, had given him months of therapeutic satisfaction as he worked on it before Lorelai's wedding to Max. Building things and fixing things were two of Luke's favorite activities. The thought of getting Taylor permanently out of his hair made him smile and work even harder.

He headed back out the door, almost bumping into Rory as she came into the diner.

"Whoa! Hey, you look angry, kid," he said. "Everything OK?" He steadied her with a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm going to kill Taylor," she grumbled.

"Get in line, kid, I've got dibs."

She put on her Rory face, the face she used for extra pieces of pie. "Please, Luke, can I please go first? I have some really good ideas I'd like to try."

"Oh yeah? Like what? Maybe we should work together," he added conspiratorially.

"First, I would unravel a bit of his sweater vest until it was really long. I'd wrap it around him until he was trapped like a caterpillar in a cocoon. I'd take all of his ice cream and whipped cream and sprinkles and nuts and put it in a big vat. Next I'd dip him in boiling hot fudge, followed by layers of ice cream and sprinkles, ending up in the giant freezer, where all of the boiling and sprinkling and dipping would freeze him into a giant Taylor popsicle."

"Whoa, that's evil. I love it. What did he do?" Luke asked, laughing.

"This." She held up one of the posters of her that Taylor had created, naming her the Ice Cream Queen. "He photoshopped me into this stupid crown and is telling everyone that I'm making appearances to promote his ice cream store! He knows I only help out at town charity events, but he's using me for personal gain!"

"You know," Luke said, "I have a deep fryer. We could make Taylor fried ice cream."

"You're on," Rory said.

Still chuckling, Luke patted her on the shoulder and went back outside to measure and cut the plywood.

"Luke seems much happier now than he was this morning, Mom," commented Rory as she joined her mother at her table.

"Really? 'Cause he's been ignoring me," Lorelai replied, miffed.

Rory giggled. "Maybe that's what's making him happy."

Lorelai glared at her. "The jam thing was a bust. I had this great story about Paris and craftsmanship, but all he did was look at the jar and tell me it was made in America."

"I told you it wouldn't work, Mom. You know Luke can always tell when you're lying."

Lorelai shook off the feeling that Luke was mad at her, or bugged, or something, saying, "Taylor really made you the Ice Cream Queen? That is so rude of him. He takes advantage of you too often."

Having finished cutting the plywood board, Luke entered the diner again, plywood and electric screwdriver in hand. He stopped by the girls' table and asked Rory, "Do you need those posters? If not, I've got an idea."

She followed him to the window into the ice cream store. Grabbing a roll of tape from behind the counter, the two of them covered the glass with images of Rory as the Ice Cream Queen staring at the people in the ice cream store. Rory then held the board as he carefully placed it inside the window frame, using wood screws to hold it forever in place.

They stepped back and admired their handiwork. Now the diner was almost back to normal. He still needed to get Taylor to return his father's things, but that battle would come later. Right now, he could bask in the satisfaction of having eliminated the window problem.

"Hey Lorelai," said Luke, "Have you got a minute?"

Lorelai's mood changed from pouty to happy in a heartbeat. Finally they were including her in their little club of evil.

"Sure! Do you want some more ideas about torturing Taylor? I've got some great ones."

"Nah, we've moved past that. Would you mind painting this board? I think I've got some paint left over from the spruce that would match this wall."

Unable to repress her envy, she replied, "No, I don't have time. Rory and I have just a few days to get her ready to go to Yale. I've got a million things to do." She gave a fake sad look. "Sorry," she shrugged.

Rory leaned back behind Luke and mouthed the words "Do IT!" behind his back. It so distracted Lorelai that she almost missed Luke's disappointed expression, which lasted only for a moment, but clearly showed that he'd hoped she would do it.

"OK," was all he said as he went back outside to clean up.

"Mom! What were you thinking? Why couldn't you do this one thing he asked you to do?"

"He's been mean to me," Lorelai pouted.

"No, he was angry with Taylor this morning and he had a panic attack, then he hugged you. That's not mean. Furthermore, I can't believe that you wouldn't do this one little thing for him. Do you remember what he did for us while we were on vacation? He cut the grass twice, adjusted the water heater temperature and patched the roof. All we did in return was forget to buy him even the cheapest souvenir."

"He didn't get us a gift on his trip either," Lorelai rationalized.

"Because he was with his girlfriend. Geez, Mom, you need to go take a nap. You must be jetlagged."

Lorelai did choose to go home and sleep for a while. When she returned to the diner, things had changed yet again. While eating their lunch, the girls watched Kirk get thrown out of the diner for eavesdropping on other people's conversations. Luke made arrangements with Patty to get a five minute slot on the next town meeting agenda, which had everyone in the diner conjecturing about his objective.

Lorelai made a pretty, if awkward apology to Luke and offered to paint the board whenever he wanted. He listened patiently, a little distracted, ultimately accepting her offer and they agreed that she'd return tonight right before closing.

Looking at his watch, he excused himself, saying he had another appointment, and he disappeared again. Lorelai stood there yet again, her mouth full of words and no place to put them.

* * *

Before a minute had passed, Luke was walking back into the diner, accompanied by 'Coop' Cooper, a local police officer who had known Luke for years. Together they went toward the stairs up to Luke's apartment, until Coop stopped to look at the repairs to the wall.

They stood next to it, discussing something quietly before finally disappearing upstairs.

Almost an hour later, a man in a suit came into the diner looking for Mr. Danes. Caesar had him sit while he went upstairs to let Luke know the man had arrived.

Undeniably curious, Lorelai took a seat near the man and began a conversation. Other than the fact that he was indeed there to see Luke, she could get nothing out of him except that he was a lawyer. She began a stream of banter so fast that she thought she would trip over her own words, but the lawyer kept up with her, quickly comprehending that these were not serious questions.

The only bit of hers that actually got a rise out of the lawyer was the old Dewey, Cheatham and Howe joke. She'd even used her best joke, the one about a bus full of lawyers at the bottom of the ocean. Having earned at least an eye roll, she declared victory and let him go when he stood up to check on Mr. Danes again.

Moments later Luke and Coop came through the curtain.

"Coop, I appreciate your help. I'll see you tomorrow?" Luke said, slapping Coop on the back and shaking his hand as he walked him to the door. The two men stood outside for a moment exchanging pleasantries. Lorelai watched, puzzled by the rare sight of Luke behaving like an average non-grumpy human being.

Before she could tease him, the lawyer stood up and caught Luke's attention.

"Oh goody, a lawyer," Luke joked, looking at Lorelai with a smirk. She smiled back, ready to ask why he was meeting with a lawyer but Luke guided him to the stairs so quickly that she didn't have a chance to ask. At the last second, though, he turned, looked directly at her and winked.

Luke had never winked at her before, but she couldn't decide if she were happy about that or sad, because Luke's wink was devastating. Wobbly knees, racing pulse, open the bottle of smelling salts devastating.

This was not what Lorelai was expecting on her first day back from Europe. Sookie was obsessed with her pregnancy, practically imprisoned by Jackson, and Luke… Luke was most definitely NOT the same Luke she last saw at Rory's Chilton graduation.

Unemployed since shortly after the Independence Inn burned, she and Sookie had spent the last months planning the purchase and remodel of the Dragonfly. Rory had needed her support for the last weeks of school, and Lorelai had thrown herself into taking care of her and preparing for their European vacation.

The Dragonfly was theirs; the European vacation was over. There was no need to hurry to get Rory to Yale, since they had two weeks to go. Even the remodel was in other people's hands at the moment as the necessary permits and contractor schedules were being settled. Lorelai had neither a real nor imagined emergency providing her with drama and excitement.

In short, Lorelai was bored.

She was bored, and broke as well, having sunk all of her cash and her available credit into the Dragonfly. Lorelai was also dreading the thought of Rory going off to Yale, leaving her here alone. And nervous about risking everything she owned for her dream of the Dragonfly.

Bored, broke, worried and nervous. Lorelai had the same solution for all of these problems. Words. Words were her lifeblood after Rory and coffee. Words made Lorelai feel safe, happy and confident. They were her shield against despair, anger, hatred and boredom.

Lorelai needed one thing to make the words work-an audience. That was her problem now. Sookie was nesting, Rory was out visiting Lane and Luke had transmogrified into some form of Pod Luke. Those three people comprised her best listeners, unfortunately none of them were there for her, so she went home.

Rory still wasn't there, so Lorelai went for her last resort-call her mother. At the very least the inevitable argument would be good exercise for her brain. Running through all of the possible topics in her head as she dialed, she was prepared for whatever Emily had to throw at her.

Lorelai was prepared for anything, at least anything except the endless ringing of the Gilmore mansion phone. No one was home.

"Gah!" she screamed to no one.

* * *

Rory came home to a mother lying upside down on the sofa watching Casablanca, pretending that Ilsa was talking to her. Hearing Rory come in, Lorelai jumped to her feet, becoming so dizzy that she almost fainted. Her head that once was practically on the floor was now practically near the ceiling and the blood was trying to rush from one end of her body to the other. The blood became confused and decided that Lorelai should suddenly sit on the floor until the blood could decide for itself where it needed to be.

During this whole event Lorelai was talking so much and so fast that Rory didn't need to do anything except nod and hold her mother's hand. Eventually she calmed Lorelai down, they ate and watched TV and started to catch up on the mail, whereupon Rory discovered that she'd made an error and Yale was starting the next Saturday instead of a week from that day.

Nothing made Lorelai both happier and sadder. Now she had an emergency, which was get Rory to school on time, but the after-Rory time was also going to start a week sooner. Best of all, the Gilmore Girls had a crisis to enjoy together.

"There's no time to paint Luke's board tonight," proposed Lorelai, "we have to get our lists organized so everything is ready on Saturday. Luke is just going to have to get over it. I can paint it next week when you're gone."

"No, you're going to paint it tonight. He needs you now, not next week, and you owe him for like a million favors over the years."

"But he's not our Luke, the town Luke, he's been different since we got back. Oh! I wonder if he was taken by aliens and they replaced him with a fake Luke who, like, smiles and laughs. You know, not at all like the Luke we know and love."

"Don't forget hugs," said Rory sarcastically. "Mom, please. That's ridiculous."

"No it's not. I bet if we sneak up into his apartment we'll find weird, mesh-like silver pajamas. You know, he's been bringing people up to his apartment today and they all come down happy. I bet that's where it happens, the aliens snatch them and put happy Stars Hollow pod people in their place."

Lorelai pondered the alien topic for a moment, then said, "There must be a secret alien radio in his apartment! That must be how he communicates with his alien overlords!" She held out a plate to Rory, saying, "Want a piece of deep-fried cake? Jackson's been playing with the giant deep fryer again. How in the world he deep-fried a layer cake is beyond me."

"Anything cooking is beyond you, Mom." Rory shook her head at Lorelai's silliness. "I'm starting to wonder if you should be allowed out on the streets in this state, certainly I'm not going to let you near Luke. You'll probably give him a heart attack."

"Well, I'm going anyway. It's the only way to get to the bottom of this. Did you know Luke can wink?"

"Luke can wink?" repeated Rory.

"Luke can wink!" Lorelai crowed, the memory of that moment coloring her cheeks. "or maybe it was Pod Luke, I'll find out tonight."

"Look at you, how you said 'Luke can wink!' Was it a dirty wink?"

"It was dirty, and funny, and intimate, and sweet, and like a million things all wrapped up into one wink. That was one mind-boggling wink," Lorelai said ardently.

"Please Mom, for god's sake don't wink back at him. He'll think you had a stroke."

"Yeah, I'm not a very good winker," she admitted, "but boy golly, he can sure wink at me any time he wants. I'm going to go over there right now and see if he'll wink again."

"Poor Luke. He's going to pay a horrible price for you painting his board."

"Dirty!" Lorelai giggled.

* * *

"Lorelai, is that you?" yelled Luke from the kitchen as he heard the sound of the bells.

"Yeah, your paint slave is here to strip and sand and undercoat and overcoat anything you want," she answered suggestively. "What shall I strip first?"

He popped his head out the kitchen door. "Can you go ahead and get started? The paint and stuff is over there," he said, pointing to the now-empty wall. "I've got a huge greasy mess in the kitchen, I need to keep working here."

Deflated, she mumbled, "OK," and started working.

Painting the board took all of fifteen minutes, and while waiting for the first coat to dry, she slipped quietly upstairs to look in Luke's apartment. Nothing. No alien brainwashing machine, no silvery pajamas, just Luke's stuff. She stepped back through the curtain as Luke stuck his head out of the door again.

"You find everything you needed?" he asked.

He saw the guilt flash across her face, but hadn't noticed that she'd gone upstairs. "What's wrong?" he demanded.

"Nothing, I, um, I'm just waiting to paint the second coat and I poked around in the storeroom a little," she lied.

"Well, stay out of there. If a sack of potatoes fell on your head, my insurance would go through the roof," he deadpanned, expecting her to banter back.

Instead, she hung her head a little, said, "Sorry," and got back to work.

He could tell something was wrong, but didn't have the time to talk about it, so he opted for avoidance. "OK, when you're done, just put the brushes and stuff in that bucket of water. I'll clean it up later," he said as he went back into the kitchen.

She finished the last coat and put the brushes away as instructed, allowing her rebellious streak to etch her initials into a corner of the board.

Hanging around a while longer, hoping he'd come out to talk, Lorelai finally gave up, calling out to Luke, "I'm done! Do you need anything else?"

He came to the doorway, his oilcloth apron filthy with grease and dirt, and looked over at the board. "Looks great, thanks. I really hate painting." He stood there a moment, as if he wanted to say something, but all he said was, "Um, I need to get this thing finished, or there's no breakfast tomorrow. Do you mind?"

Feeling the shortness of his words, and seeing that she looked somehow disappointed, he added, "I'm buying you breakfast tomorrow as a thank you, OK? You'll come, right?"

She put on her innkeeper smile, the one that didn't reach to her eyes and replied affirmatively. "Wouldn't miss it for the world. You'll be there?" she added hopefully.

Luke smiled his alien happy smile, one that actually reached his eyes. "I'm always there, Lorelai. See you then?"

* * *

The town meeting started on time, as usual, and the Gilmore Girls were late, as usual, because they were buying snacks for the town meeting, as usual.

That was the end of the commonplace for this meeting. Taylor was mysteriously absent, and Patty ran the meeting in his stead. Without Taylor's overbearing need to impose his will on everyone, the agenda was quite short. Actually, the only agenda point was Luke's, which was still enough to pack the room, since he had never had an agenda point ever in the history of Stars Hollow.

Officer Cooper started with the news of the recent crime wave, unprecedented in Stars Hollow.

"There are two crimes to discuss tonight," he announced authoritatively. "The first one has two parts. The modifications to the diner by adding a window is not actually a crime per se, it's more of a contract dispute between landlord and tenant. While the two parties might choose to battle it out in court, there's really nothing an officer of the law can do about it."

"The second part of the diner window case is a real crime, quite possibly a felony. When someone broke into the diner, removed the items off the wall where the window now is, and disassembled the shelves, they took all of that with them, thereby perpetrating the crime. They stole those items from Luke, er Mr. Danes." Coop stumbled over Luke's name, trying to keep his speech in his official police vernacular.

"Luke's fine, Coop," said Luke, looking uncomfortable as he sat on the stage with Miss Patty and the other town representatives. Luke valued his privacy, and would have strongly preferred to not be up here on stage, but this thing with Taylor needed to be fixed once and for all.

"Now, we at the Stars Hollow branch of area law enforcement would like to remind everyone that there are no victimless crimes. To help us remember that, I've asked Luke to tell us about the impact of the diner theft."

Luke looked around, wishing he could escape, but knowing that Coop had specifically asked him to do this because the people of Stars Hollow didn't always have the clearest perspective on certain matters. Specifically they felt immune to crime. Crime could never happen in their little corner of the world.

Verbally stumbling, Luke began, "It um, well, it sucks to go on the first vacation I've been on in over five years and return home to find my diner destroyed." He took a deep breath, reminded himself of his goal, and continued.

"I know a lot of you think that's just shelves full of useless old crap, but it's MY useless old crap, and I wasn't ready to get rid of it yet." He paced on the stage, searching for the words to say what he really meant. That stuff wasn't really crap to him, and it shouldn't be crap to Stars Hollow either.

"That wall was filled with things that had special meaning for my dad, for me, and even for this whole town!" Throwing his hands up as if he were showing the wall itself, he continued, "Some of my dad's favorite tools were there. Tools that he used to help you repair your homes. There was an old radio that Fran Weston's husband Joe gave my dad to fix, but Joe died before he could pick it up again. Fran asked Dad to keep it, and we listened to ball games on it for years. Joe's gone, and Dad's gone, and now even Fran's gone, but the radio was still there."

"Harry, the leftover paint from your grandkids' treehouse was there. Gypsy's electric motor models from the time she taught a class to school kids was there. Hell, even the plastic dancing pork chop that says, 'I lost my head over a good chop,' was there. Uncle Louie gave me that pork chop. Laughed his ass off at the joke for weeks, every damn time he came into the diner." Neither Luke nor several older townies could resist a wry smile or a chuckle at Louie's memory. He looked at some of their faces, remembering that some of these people shared a happier history with him. He hadn't always been the grumpy diner owner.

"What I'm trying to say is, that wall was a history of Stars Hollow, and it's now been taken away from us. It's gone, and it will never be the same." Luke's energy slowed as he felt the loss. He looked at Coop, ready to give the floor to him until he recalled the other horrible thing Taylor had done.

"Rory, are you here?" he called. He looked around the room but didn't see her. Even if he couldn't do much about his lost memorabilia, he could at least help her.

Moving back to face the audience, he said, "Taylor Doose has been using a picture of Rory all over the county to advertise his business! Just like me, she was on vacation when Taylor Doose took an old photograph of her, added a stupid crown, and now he's going around town acting as if she wanted to promote his business!"

"Luke, I got this," said Coop. "Thanks for bringing it up."

Coop's calm, collected words helped Luke relax and stop the rant before he was completely carried away. He gave Coop a manly shoulder bump and left the room via the front entrance as Lorelai and Rory, always late, came in the back door, snacks in hand, prepared to mock the meeting and insult the participants.

Once outside, he slumped against the building, relieved that the speech was over. _This wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It felt good to say what needed to be said, to remind everyone that my dad was a big part of this town. I still don't like public speaking, though._

Inside, Coop was concise in describing the actions he was taking to help Rory with her identity theft, and, seeing Rory, asked her to stay for a few minutes. Lorelai, a little disconcerted that they'd missed almost the whole meeting, stayed to hear Coop's plan.

Outside, Luke was surprised when the townies started filing out of the town meeting. Andrew came by, shook Luke's hand, saying, "Thanks for speaking up, Luke. No one's been willing to stand up to Taylor until you did it today."

Several more members of the community had similar comments for Luke. Gypsy, Harry and Reverend Skinner all had supportive words for him; when Kevin Casey joined them, the small band adjourned to KC's bar for a celebratory beer.


	3. House Rules

LFI 3 House Rules

"That is one fine view, isn't it, Lorelai?" schmoozed Miss Patty. She and several other regulars stood at the counter, watching Luke.

"Shut up, Patty," growled Luke over his shoulder. "And everyone go back to your seats or leave now!" The regulars scattered, knowing that Luke meant business when he used that tone of voice.

Standing on a chair behind the counter, Luke pulled down the No Cell Phone sign, which elicited a cheer and applause from Lorelai as she took a seat directly behind him at the counter. _It is a nice view, Luke standing on a chair like that._

"I've got to call Rory right now!" she gloated.

"Don't bother," said Luke. "The policy still applies, I'm just putting up a new sign."

"What's it going to say, 'The Lorelai Special-All You Can Eat Pancakes and Sausage,' just $4.99?"

Luke snorted. "More like 'The Heart Attack Breakfast with Bottomless Death in a Cup.' Your deal would put me out of business within a month."

"That sign would scare people away. Hey Luke, how about if you make me a Lorelai Special right now? I'm hungry," she said.

"Keep your pants on," he grumbled, "I've got to hammer this last … one … in. Now! Finished."

"Dirty!" she teased. Luke glared at that comment.

He hopped down from the chair, turned to Lorelai and said, "That's one more thing I fixed."

"Luke, honey, just what do you mean by 'No Harassment?'" asked Miss Patty, gingerly approaching the counter and pointing to the sign.

"I mean there will be no more talking about my ass or anyone else's ass, or anybody's private parts at all, for that matter."

"Aw Luke, but your ass is the best ass I've ever seen. We should be able to compliment it," Miss Patty said with a leer.

"And that's strike one for you, Patty. Pay your bill and leave. You're banned for one day." Luke crossed his arms, leaned back on his counter, his grim expression daring her to challenge him.

As Miss Patty left grumbling, Luke turned to Lorelai and, seeing a devilish grin on her face, warned, "Don't you dare think that I won't ban you, because I will."

"Are you sure you can go a day without seeing my pretty pretty face?"

"Are you sure you can go a day without my coffee?" he countered. "Banned includes To-Go orders, and Rory ordering for you won't work."

"Luke?" asked Kirk, coming up to the counter. "I'm not eavesdropping!" he said defensively as he shifted his weight nervously from foot to foot.

"Yeah, Kirk, I see that. I won't ban you for eavesdropping. What do you want?"

"How long is it before you call it loitering?" Kirk shifted again, unable to stand still.

"How long have you been here?" asked Luke.

"Since a little after 6 a.m." he said, "and it's now 10.30."

"What do you think, Kirk?" Luke flashed Lorelai another wink.

Lorelai got a little tingle. _There he goes again. Wait? Did my toes just curl?_

"I think it's time I left so I don't get banned."

"Good decision. See you later."

Luke leaned on the counter near Lorelai, a smug look on his face. "I definitely like these new house rules."

"You're also losing business," observed Lorelai.

"Oh please, Kirk comes in at 6, orders a buck-fifty worth of food, then annoys me for the rest of the morning. When it comes to Patty, I don't want or need the business of anyone who harasses me or my clientele. It's just disrespectful. The Golden Rule and all that, you know?"

"He who has the gold makes the rules?" Lorelai quipped.

"I'll get your food. Clearly starvation has made you babble incoherently," he said, patting her arm, unknowingly leaving another tingle behind.

* * *

"Pie, please," Rory said as she collapsed into a chair near Luke in the diner.

"Coming right up, kid," he answered automatically. "Are you OK? You look like something's on your mind."

"Everything's crazy right now. I misread my calendar and we just found out that I have to be at Yale on Saturday, not a week from Saturday. Mom's still out shopping for school supplies."

"Huh," said Luke, pouring her coffee. "Don't you have enough to get you started? You always go shopping a couple of weeks into the school year anyway, once you know what you really need."

"You know that, and I know that, but we both know Mom is happiest when she's got a crisis to work on." Rory rolled her eyes remembering Lorelai's list-making this morning.

He chuckled, replying, "Yeah, she loves her drama, especially the made-up kind." He sliced and plated her pie, adding ice cream for a treat. He took his already-prepared cup of tea and joined her at her table.

"This is fabulous, Luke, I am so gonna miss your food," she said, barely emptying her mouth long enough to talk.

"Well, you'll visit often, knowing you and your mother, and if you leave me a mailing address, there might be the occasional care package coming your way."

"That would be wonderful!" Rory said, pulling a piece of paper out of her pocket and slapping it on the table. "Here's my address. No phone yet, so you'll have to call me on my cell. You'll visit too, right?"

"You bet," he answered, knowing that he rarely drove in the direction of New Haven. "So, you're making the big move. Any regrets? Did you take a big enough bite out of the Stars Hollow apple?"

She smiled. "Yeah, there was always something going on here, always something fun to do. I'm going to miss my friends, but for the most part I'm ready for college, ready to do something new."

She sat a moment longer, looking thoughtfully around the diner. "Hey Luke," she said tentatively.

Luke knew that tone. It was Rory's 'ask Daddy Luke' voice.

She continued. "There is just one person I wouldn't mind talking to one last time. I guess that's the only regret I have."

Jess. Rory and Luke had always had a special bond over Jess, even though, or maybe because of the fact that Jess broke both their hearts. Luke sighed. He hadn't planned on telling her, but since he knew what she was about to ask, he figured he should. What the heck, maybe they could fix … well, there really wasn't anything left worth fixing. Maybe Rory and Jess could get some closure.

"You know," he began tentatively, "Jess called me a couple of weeks ago and gave me his cell number. Let's go upstairs and see if we can reach him."

Rory, a little paler than normal, big-eyed and perfectly silent, followed Luke upstairs. Within a few minutes Luke came downstairs alone and went back to work.

He worked silently for a while, the few customers were fortunately all people who were enjoying their own peace and quiet. Occasionally he would strain his ears, hoping to hear something from upstairs, but Rory was quiet at the best of times, and today even more so.

Luke had a natural rhythm cleaning tables and restocking supplies during the lulls. It was a familiar, satisfying rhythm that enabled him to think, or not think, depending on his mood. Today he was in a thinking mood.

_The last couple of days were much better than expected._

Speaking up at the town meeting had been hard at first and he'd wished he'd had some of Lorelai's verbal skill when he was standing up there on the platform, but he got through it. They actually listened to him. That was lots better than jumping up in the middle of a town meeting to shout out his objections to their crazy proposals.

The new diner rules made the diner's atmosphere much better. Writing down his house rules was all it took (OK, along with a couple of temporary bans) to keep him from getting angry and shouting so often.

Even telling the divorce lawyer exactly what he wanted made him feel better.

_Yeah, I definitely need to say what I think more often. How would Lorelai put it? Oh yeah, in Luke-ish: More talk equals better life. Except she'd probably add a grunt at the end._

Luke had just finished bussing and cleaning the tables in preparation for the dinner rush when an ethereal creature attacked him from the side, hugging him fiercely.

Rory looked up at him with a sad smile, saying only, "Thanks," and hugging him once more as he stood there, wondering if he should ask how it went, or change the subject, or just say nothing.

His quandary was resolved when a decidedly earthly creature burst into the diner, bubbling over with happiness, filling the space with an energy that got everyone's attention. Lorelai, still on the mission to get her daughter ready for Yale, came through the door, talking a mile a minute, unconsciously demanding that everyone share in her energy and enthusiasm.

Luke and Rory had experienced this irrepressible Lorelai countless times, when whatever pensive, peaceful or simply content mood they were in was carried away on the flood of loving energy that was Lorelai Gilmore.

Normally Lorelai didn't notice the mood of her daughter and her friend unless their mood began to dampen her high spirits. Today, however, catching the end of Rory's and Luke's brief hug, she wanted to be a part of it.

"What's up kiddo? Did Luke get all teary-eyed when you told him you're leaving a week early? I've got a hanky for you, Luke, if you need to blow your nose," she said with a smile, revealing her own suppressed emotions about the sudden change in plans for Rory's last week.

Rory replied with a lie, "No, Mom, I was just thanking Luke for helping me with the Ice Cream Queen thing. Taylor totally backed off after I yelled at him and Luke brought it up at the town meeting. Luke really fixed this for me." She looked up knowingly at Luke, relying on the understanding they'd come to when Jess lived in Stars Hollow – what Lorelai didn't know about Jess wasn't going to hurt her, and Rory would much rather process the last telephone conversation away from her mother's probing questions.

"You fixed it yourself, I only ranted until Taylor got scared. I heard your speech was amazing," he said as he recalled how people had described a very assertive Rory standing in front of the microphone at the grand opening.

"OK, enough of the mutual admiration society. Let's start admiring how wonderful we will look with coffee and pie."

* * *

"Luke! Luke! Luke! I need to borrow your truck tomorrow to move Rory to Yale." Lorelai burst into the diner on Friday morning, fueled by caffeine and college preparation mania.

"Why?" Luke asked, continuing with his work behind the counter. "And good morning, by the way."

"Why? Hello, top o' the morning to you, too, Sparky. What's with the Miss Manners attitude, anyway?"

"I'm just in a good mood, that's all. These new house rules are working out very well. I haven't had to yell at anyone in days."

Luke turned to Rory as she too came through the door, hands full of shopping bags. "I got the rest of the school supplies, Mom," she said.

"Hi Rory, shopping all done?" Luke asked politely.

"Yes, finally. Mom's lists were endless," she replied.

"Luke's in a good mood," Lorelai told her daughter.

"Yeah, he's been in a very good mood for the last few days. Haven't you noticed?" Rory asked.

"Well, no, not really. I just figured it was a lull until the next shouting match." Truth be told, Lorelai hadn't paid attention at all to Luke's changed mood. The winking and the touching sure, but not Luke's mood.

"Hey, it doesn't happen that often," defended Luke. "As a matter of fact, I only really yell at three people. Once I eliminated them as problems, my need to yell and get angry went away."

"Seriously? How did you 'eliminate' them?" laughed Lorelai. "Garroting? Dipped them in acid? Nobody's heard from Taylor since the day you put up the board. Where did you dump the body?"

"I don't know where the hell Taylor is, which is fine with me. Kirk has been handled with the rules for no loitering and no eavesdropping," explained Luke.

"Who's the third person?" asked Lorelai. "Miss Patty? Babette?"

Luke cocked his head, put his hands on his hips and looked at Lorelai, exasperated, but he said nothing. Rory giggled, knowing what was coming.

Lorelai stared at Luke for a moment, then said in a low, shocked voice, "You've got to be kidding!"

"Hey, the no cell phones rule has been in place the longest, and nobody breaks the rule except you!" Luke pointed his finger at her.

Rory giggled. "Mom, you know the rule, and he warned you many times. You're just lucky he hasn't banned you before."

"Luke, what about the truck?" Lorelai decided it would be safer to redirect the discussion back to original question.

"How far away is Yale?" Luke asked.

Lorelai scoffed. "Why? Are you working for Mapquest?"

Rory responded simply, "22.8 miles."

"Exactly!" said Luke.

Lorelai, surprised, looked at Rory, who shrugged her shoulders and said, "Jess looked it up once."

"Well, yeah, so what?" asked Lorelai.

"What gas mileage do you get on your Prius, Rory?" he continued.

"About 50 miles per gallon, I think. My grandparents also gave me a gas card, so I don't track it too well," Rory answered.

"That's more than four times the fuel efficiency my truck has," Luke said. "You can drive back and forth to Yale four times for the same cost. You should take the Prius."

"But we have to buy a mattress," explained Lorelai. "Rory can't sleep on a used mattress with all those microbes."

Luke looked blankly at Lorelai for a moment, then asked, "How was your Europe trip?"

Lorelai shook her head, confused. "Fine, Luke, are you sure you're all right? We were just talking about Yale, not Europe."

"On your trip you slept on a different mattress every night in a hostel, sharing microbes with the thousands of people who slept there before, and you're suddenly worried about a mattress that's maybe two years old and has been used by a couple of people? Doesn't make any sense."

"Maybe so, but we still need to get Rory a mattress and we need to move it to Yale."

"Mattress companies in New Haven don't deliver?" he asked.

"Well, of course they do, but…" Lorelai began.

"So you take that cell phone of yours outside, and you make a call to a mattress company in Yale, and have the mattress delivered tomorrow." Mentally, Luke checked off the topic 'Yale Mattress for Rory' as another thing fixed.

Lorelai's face twisted in frustration. _This is not the way I expected to get this done. Luke doesn't normally push back like this._

"So you pack both the Jeep and the Prius tonight, drive them to Yale tomorrow and while Rory's unpacking, you can make more trips in the Prius. Everything gets moved and you've saved the environment as well," said Luke with a smug look on his face.

Lorelai gave in, sighing, "I haven't got time for this anymore. I still need to buy trash bags for Rory's clothes and bedding. After that I have to pack the Prius, because Rory has to go to Friday Night Dinner."

Filling in the details for Luke, Rory added, "I made a deal with my grandparents to borrow the money for Yale. Now I'm the only one who has to go to Friday Night Dinner. Mom's free to do what she wants."

"Which tonight is packing clothes in trash bags and stuffing them into Rory's teeny tiny car." Lorelai finished her coffee and stood to leave.

"Trash bags? Don't you have suitcases?" asked Luke.

"When have Rory and I ever gone anywhere? Of course we don't have suitcases," Lorelai said a little snidely.

"I've got suitcases. You can borrow my suitcases," offered Luke.

"You've got suitcases? You never go anywhere either!" exclaimed Lorelai.

"Of course I've got suitcases. I just went on a seven-country cruise, plus I've got a couple of old suitcases from my parents. Then there's always my duffel bag." He paused for a moment, then offered, "How about if I bring my suitcases over tonight after I close the diner and I'll help you pack?"

His offer took Lorelai by surprise. "Um well, sure, that'd be great," she replied.

The mother and daughter picked up their shopping bags and went outside. Lorelai waved Rory on and stayed a moment longer, standing on the top step, looking through the window at Luke. He walked out to her with a questioning look on his face.

"Hey Luke," she said cautiously, "Are you mad about the cell phone thing?"

"Nah, I don't like it, but I'm not mad. I shout sometimes, but it's not anger, I'm just trying to get your attention."

"Well, I'm sorry, I'll try to do better. I guess I always thought it was just part of our banter."

"Hey, I love the banter, but the cell phone stuff was bickering, not banter. I really hate cell phones in the diner and you know it," he said.

_God, it's so hard to tell if I've hurt Luke's feelings. I wish it were easier to understand him._ Lorelai felt a little ashamed, having to accept the truth.

Thinking about his new-found 'More talk equals better life' philosophy, Luke decided to take another chance. He looked in her eyes, saw her remorse, but suddenly lost his words. He cleared his throat, looked at everything but Lorelai, then blurted what he needed to say.

"Lorelai, sometimes you forget how capable and creative you are," he said, nervously moving his hands, placing them first on his hips, then wrapping his arms around himself, unconsciously flexing his biceps. "Like the truck thing. You got it into your head that you needed the truck, even though the Prius is a better solution. You got stuck on the truck idea and forgot to use your natural resourcefulness."

Lorelai's jaw dropped and she was speechless at Luke's statement. He'd complimented her in her lowest moments, like after particularly hurtful Friday Night Dinners, but this was different somehow, like he was almost encouraging her to rely on herself.

Like at the town meeting, once he started talking, he relaxed. His brain and mouth now on autopilot, he reached up and tucked a stray curl back into her hair, saying, "You are strong, and clever, and when your brain runs on all cylinders, you are absolutely amazing. That's one of the ways you inspire me."

_OK, she's got kind of a blank look, I must have shared too much. I'll have to watch it next time. Still need to work some kinks out of this 'saying what I think' thing._ Luke took her by the shoulders, turned her towards the street and gave her a gentle push.

"And I will ban you if you use the cell phone inside the diner," he warned, going back inside, as Lorelai walked away, still puzzling over Luke's behavior.


	4. Packing It In

LFI4 Packing It In

The sky was getting dark as Lorelai placed yet another stack of Rory's clothes on the sofa in the living room. Every table was already covered with stacks that Rory had organized herself before leaving for Hartford for her last FND before moving to Yale. Lorelai couldn't help smiling at Rory's neat, organized stacks compared to her own wild piles of Rory's clothing.

The dinner next week would be Rory's first as a college student, and the first one that she attended per her agreement with her grandparents. They loan her the money for Yale, she goes to dinner. Lorelai was finally permanently free of the obligatory dinners.

_Where is Luke with those suitcases? There's no way all of this stuff is going to fit into the Prius and the Jeep. Geez, sometimes Luke really irritates me with his practical advice: 'Use the Prius, Lorelai, it saves gas' and 'Lock your doors, Lorelai, it's safer.' What an old grandma-type he can be. Sometimes things just need to be done without being logical. Why doesn't he understand that? He's not always logical. There's no logic behind a wink, is there?_

"Gah!" Lorelai's guttural scream saved her from falling into the endless loop of wondering why Luke had started this winking and touching thing. She dashed to the downstairs bathroom to get some towels to pack. _I am NOT going to wonder if there will be winking tonight, nor ask myself if I'm ready for whatever follows a flirty wink. Although if he winks so well, what would a kiss be like?_ Before leaving the bathroom she looked in the mirror to make sure her makeup and hair was good._ A girl's got to take care of herself FOR herself. Not because of Luke._

A few loud "Thuds!" brought Lorelai racing to the front door. Luke had tossed a couple of suitcases onto the porch and gone back to his truck for the rest. As he approached the porch again, they exchanged the usual "Heys" in greeting.

"So, um, here are the suitcases," he said tersely.

"I see," said Lorelai. "They look very, um, travel-ready."

"Yeah," agreed Luke.

"Welcome back, Monosyllabic Man," she smiled. "I've missed you."

"Huh? I've been here since before you got home from Europe." Luke had no idea what caused him to abandon his talkative self. He refused to even consider the notion it might be the company he was keeping at the moment. Alone, in the waning daylight.

The diner was their sparring ring; there he felt free to banter as much as he wanted. Here at Lorelai's, when he knew her nerves were on edge due to Rory's impending move, it felt more like a bungee jump than verbal fencing.

"This suitcase won't fit in the Prius. It's way too big," said Lorelai smugly, holding up the largest case.

Luke snorted. "Of course it will." He took the bag from her hands and went over to the car, closely followed by Lorelai, who was still explaining how the bag wouldn't fit in the car.

Opening all of the doors, Luke stood there trying to figure it out. Lorelai stood on the opposite side of the car, grinning at his concentration.

"Put the back seats down," he commanded.

"What do you mean?" asked Lorelai, confused.

"Flip the levers on the seat backs and fold the seats down, like this," he said as he opened one door and demonstrated.

"Ah! I never knew you could do that!" She reached in on her side and flipped the other seat half down. "Wow! That's amazing!"

Luke opened the trunk door and slid in the suitcase and it was his turn to have a smug grin on his face as he closed the trunk door again. "You do know your Jeep does it too, right?"

"How would I know something like that? It's the first car I ever owned."

"Maybe the user manual?" Luke sighed.

"Humph, reading that might have been a good idea, I guess."

Luke pulled the suitcase out of the Prius. "Let's go pack the bags. I'll introduce you to a wonderful new technology called a zipper pocket."

Lorelai giggled and babbled happily to him all the way inside. They both felt relieved at familiarity of Lorelai's vivacious chatter and Luke's counterbalancing grumpiness, rather like they'd Put on their most comfortable shoes. Each one now knew what the other would say, how he or she would react; they were back in a natural rhythm.

"Oh, good god," said Luke as he viewed the stacks of Rory's clothes, bedding and whatnot. "You remember she'll be just 30 minutes away, right? She can come home and get this stuff anytime she feels like it."

"A girl needs her stuff, Luke, you know that," said Lorelai. "We have things to puff and powder, curl and straighten. All this amazingness doesn't come for free."

They packed one suitcase after another with few difficulties, except for the time Luke refused to touch Rory's underwear or toiletries. Lorelai teased him about that until his cheeks turned pink with embarrassment, but she discreetly packed all of Rory's sensitive items herself.

Luke began loading the car with the larger suitcases. Lorelai followed him carrying beer and the smallest bag. Grunting and pushing, unloading and rearranging, he eventually found the most efficient scheme. Finished, they slumped against the side of the Prius, enjoying the break. The light was nearly gone from the sky; the house lights bathed them in a golden glow. Sweating, Luke stripped his flannel off, leaving only the form-fitting dark blue T-shirt to inadequately cover his muscles.

"Everything else ought to fit easily into the Jeep tomorrow. Do you need me here to load the Jeep?" he offered, gratefully taking the beer Lorelai proffered. She bumped her hip into his while trying to avoid leaning against a door handle. He scooted over an inch, staying close, his shoulder intruding into her personal space.

"Nah, I got it. Rory will be here, and if I know her, she'll be up and have the Jeep loaded before I'm awake. Remember how she would always be up at the crack of dawn at the beginning of every school year?"

Luke chuckled. "I remember when she reset your alarm and the two of you were at the diner five minutes past six. You fell asleep in the maple syrup."

"Don't forget the time that she was so excited when it was time to leave for school that she jumped up, caught her backpack on the table and flipped the whole thing onto your shoes?" Lorelai's eyes sparkled with laughter remembering Luke's expression as he looked at the mess covering his jeans and shoes.

Luke narrowed his eyes teasingly. "Weren't you actually helping her, and by helping, I mean fighting to keep her with you another five minutes? The table falling over was more due to you knocking it over instead of Rory. And I had to buy new shoes. What a pain."

With an innocent tone, Lorelai replied, "Nope, no memory of that part. You must be mistaken. I've been the very model of June Cleaver, the world's most perfect mother."

"Now look at her, on her way to Yale. How does it feel to be Mother of the Year?" he asked, nudging her shoulder.

"Happy. Sad. Proud. Old. I've got a kid in college," said Lorelai with a sweetly pathetic little shrug, her beyond-blue eyes deepening in color as the emotions flickered through them. She rubbed her beer bottle against the leg of her pants, watching the fabric darken with moisture.

"I'll keep a beer in the fridge for you in case you need …, uh, get thirsty after dropping her off, OK? Just stop by anytime." He scuffed his shoe through the scrawny patches of grass that Lorelai called a lawn.

They stood there a moment longer, saying nothing. Luke kept glancing sideways at Lorelai as she battled to suppress tears. As if they had practiced for a synchronized beer drinking Olympics, they lifted their bottles to their lips at the same time, drank, and lowered the bottles again with perfect timing. Then they sighed, each not wanting to look at the other.

"How was your Alaskan cruise?" Lorelai broke the ice once she'd relegated the sappy mother tears to their place.

"I'm breaking up with Nicole," Luke said abruptly as he tested the roots of the nearest clump of grass with his shoe again.

"Oh, Luke," was all she said, but that was more than he could bear to hear. Looking around the yard, he noticed the chuppah and found it suddenly necessary to inspect it close up.

"You've still got the chuppah," he said, a little surprised that she would keep something so long.

"Of course, I'll never get rid of it." she answered. "You made it for me."

He looked at her, his expression inscrutable. "How's Gilbert?"

"He's good. He keeps me company when I'm out here. His communication style is a little wooden, though." Luke snorted silently, enjoying her lame joke.

"We need more beer," she said. "I'll be right back." She ran to the kitchen. As she closed the fridge door and grabbed the bottle opener, she peeked out of the window to see what her friend was doing. He stood under the chuppah, running his hands over the carvings as if he were remembering how he carved it. She wondered if it had given him as much comfort to make the chuppah as it gave her to own it. She loved everything about it.

Joining him under the chuppah, she popped the caps off the bottles, slid the opener into her back pocket and handed him a bottle. They clinked bottles and drank silently.

Luke ran his hand over the rounded curves of the posts he'd turned to make the basis of the chuppah.

"I think I understand Max."

Luke was the king of the non-sequitur tonight.

"Max?" she asked, trying to understand how he had leaped from Nicole to Max.

"Um, I think I understand how easy it was for you to … get in too deep. Before you know it you're going on cruises you don't want to go on, and you're in deeper than you ever wanted to be."

Lorelai looked at her muscular friend with affection and concern. When he needed to talk, he needed the time to overcome his natural tendency to keep things bottled up. These were rare occasions, but she cherished them all the more because they were rare.

"I never wanted to do more than date her a few times. I knew almost instantly it would never be more than that."

Another drink from his bottle was a welcome pause as he felt the regrets of a relationship he'd never really been in. He squatted down, one knee almost touching the ground. He pushed the bottle into the dirt as if it could somehow support him.

"Did you know she changed the cruise from a short Alaska cruise to a seven-country two week blowout?"

Lorelai shook her head. That tidbit hadn't made it into the gossip round.

"She said she'd won the cruise in a raffle, but I knew she'd paid for it herself. She wanted more. She keeps wanting more."

Lorelai sat down on the ground, almost facing Luke as he squatted there. He looked at her for an instant, but looked away again when he noticed that his pain had registered with her. Pity was something he couldn't stand and didn't want.

She didn't pity him. She saw only a man who hated hurting people. Closing her eyes, she dared one question.

"But you don't want more?" she asked softly. She squeezed her eyes even tighter as they began burning with tears she dare not shed. This moment needed to be about Luke, nothing else.

Luke was hurting. Her friend, a man with a heart big enough to spend a summer carving her this chuppah, her most precious treasure after Rory, hated hurting people, but he knew he was going to have to hurt Nicole. Lorelai's heart ached for him, wanting to help, but knowing she was powerless.

She opened her eyes. They were close enough to feel each other's breath if their faces had pointed in the right direction, but instead they were practically cheek-to-cheek, facing in opposite directions. His musky cologne, with the omnipresent undertone of his physical labor, was intoxicating.

Luke turned to look directly at her, willing her to understand. "I want more, too. Just not with Nicole."

That admission, once made, turned Luke's knees to jelly and he collapsed onto the ground. He crossed his legs and looked deep into his beer. No answers there.

Lorelai couldn't breathe.

Staring off into the bushes, he continued, feeling the need to get it out once and for all. "I need someone who's all in for me and who will let me be all in for her. Someone who isn't afraid to tell me she wants me. Who loves me as much as I love her."

He bit back his last words, too personal to tell even Lorelai. _Someone who will love me enough to build me a chuppah._

She placed her hand on Luke's knee to comfort him. "But that person isn't Nicole?" she half-asked, half-confirmed. He nodded, squeezing the hand resting on his knee. "I'm so sorry, Luke."

He looked up and she saw both sadness and ironic laughter in his eyes. "You had a good idea taking a road trip to Harvard with Rory after Max. Got any other kids looking for a college? I could use a good road trip about now."

"Sorry, fresh out of kids," she joked back, rubbing his knee before removing her hand. "I found out the hard way that the road trip only postpones the heartache. But keep me in mind if you decide to go. I'm always up for fun."

He stood up, groaning as his muscles protested the cold ground and the sudden movement. Reaching down, he grasped Lorelai's arm and pulled her up as well. She was impressed by the strength of his forearm as she wrapped her hand around it.

"You guys are coming for breakfast tomorrow, right?" he asked.

"You bet. Rory won't let me forget that. Make sure there's enough coffee to go. Twenty-two point eight miles is a long way. We'll get thirsty for sure." She smiled her 'everything will get better soon' smile for Luke.

He took a half-step away, then stepped back impulsively and pulled her into a tight, brief hug. Dropping the lightest of kisses on her forehead, he said "Goodnight" and went to his truck. All she saw as he drove away was his hand sticking out of the driver's window as a goodbye wave.

* * *

An urgent phone call a few minutes later sent Lorelai on her way to Hartford to rescue Rory from the ballroom dance-crazed clutches of Emily. Crazier thoughts than twenty-year-old ballroom dance moves spun around in her that simple, brotherly goodnight kiss had awakened feelings that Lorelai could neither quite identify nor deny. _Could I be falling for Luke?_

* * *

As Lorelai drove away from Stars Hollow, Luke sat in his truck parked behind the diner, thoughts of Lorelai swirling in his head. He'd never had the clarity of thought that he had tonight. _Someone who's all in, someone who's not afraid to tell me that she wants me, not afraid to fight for me as I'd fight for her._ This was the love he wanted. He had that love for Lorelai, but had never seen her reciprocate._ Maybe it's time to stop wishing she would one day fit into my mold. Maybe it's time to stop wishing for something that may never come._

* * *

Thanks to Emily's hostage-taking maneuver, Rory didn't achieve her goal of being early on her first day at Yale. She entered the diner running late already, and ended up ordering breakfast to go for both her and Lorelai, who was still at home.

"Do you have roommates?" asked Luke as he and Rory chatted before her order came up.

He looked at his watch for the tenth time this hour, hoping that Lorelai would have come in before he left for business meetings with some suppliers. His goal was to reduce the number of early deliveries and gain a few more precious hours of sleep a week.

"Yes, the suite has space for four. That's going to be weird after living with just Mom all this time." Rory's nervousness at getting used to living with new people was obvious.

Luke pulled a couple of takeout boxes that he had packed and set off to the side before the diner got busy that morning.

"Here. Take some Danish and brownies as an icebreaker." he suggested, pushing the boxes toward her.

"Thanks! Cool! That will be great, especially if the cafeteria food sucks." Rory sniffed at the boxes, looking forward to having some of Luke's delicious treats tonight when it would surely get lonely. "I'd better put these in the Prius before Mom arrives," she added, "otherwise they'll never make it out of Stars Hollow."

"I'll walk out with you," he said, "I've got to go to Woodbridge for an appointment." He picked up the boxes and they went outside together. Once the boxes were safely stowed, he gave her a goodbye hug, looked once more in vain for Lorelai and went on his way as Rory went back to the diner to wait for her food.

Lorelai's delay wasn't completely due to her oversleeping, which had happened, or due to her drinking a whole pot of coffee at home, which had also happened. It was partially due to the fact that she simply wasn't as efficient a packer as Luke was; fortunately the Jeep had a cloth roof and could handle a little stretching.

The other part to her delay was her inability to make a decision about Luke. She wasn't completely sure about her feelings for him, but there was something there that wasn't present before their vacations. She was also certain that his hugs and winks meant something to him.

Luke was fundamentally different now. Both his confession last night and with the loss of his father's wall showed a Luke who had faced hard decisions and changed as a result of them. Changes that were perhaps irreversible.

Lorelai knew about fundamental, irreversible change. Pregnancy, moving to Stars Hollow, the Independence Inn fire, all of those events changed her. They made her stronger, but only after she'd worked through the struggles and overcame the pain.

The pain almost defeated her several times. Her parents' insistence on how she should live her life, how _Rory_, even as a baby, should live her life, caused her pain on a daily basis. That pain was relieved by her decision to leave and her move to Stars Hollow, which she still considered to be the best decision of her life.

The pain of the move to Stars Hollow surprised Lorelai; only her indefatigable spirit kept her going when there wasn't enough money for food for both her and Rory, or when the drafty potting shed had them sleeping fully dressed, covered by practically everything they owned that resembled a blanket.

The fire at the Independence Inn shook her self-confidence for a while, as she had to accept that her management skills, while very good, couldn't prevent all trouble. One (or a few) neglected inspections resulted in dozens of people being put out of work, people who had trusted their livelihoods to her decisions as a boss. Her joy now at creating her own inn was tempered by the sober responsibility of being the caretaker for a company which again employed many people.

Luke was not a stranger to change either, the most recent being the time he spent as guardian to Jess. Luke had been constantly in turmoil over Jess' antics; often the only thing that kept him sane was advice and help from his crazy lady friend.

Now Luke was changing his life again, driven by the breakup with Nicole and the changes to the diner. He would need help again, and she vowed to be there to help her friend as he had helped her so often in the past.

Lorelai's mind drifted back to the hugging and winking. Regardless of what he meant by doing it, she knew she wanted to reciprocate, and she'd decided this morning that she would give him as good as she got. After all, if Lorelai could do anything, it was flirt. Sexy banter, a touch here, a hug there, she was a master of these.

She pulled into a parking space near the diner, all fired up and ready to wow Luke with her flirty charm.

Rory was standing on the diner steps when Lorelai finally pulled up to the front door.

"Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" Rory chanted, bringing Lorelai her breakfast packed in a Luke's bag and accompanied by a large coffee.

"Patience, grasshopper," instructed her mother, "I'm not going anywhere without breakfast and a giant cup of Luke's coffee."

"Or maybe another cup o'Luke?" suggested Rory, who had seen or heard of most of Luke's flirty attention to Lorelai in recent days.

Lorelai grinned, her flirty energy whirring like hamsters running on a wheel.

Before she could say anything, though, Rory threw cold water on Lorelai's plans by saying, "Luke's not here."

"Not here?" she asked. "But he specifically invited us last night. Why wouldn't he be here?"

"He was here for a while, but had business to take care of. If you hadn't slept late, you could have seen him, like I did."

_He must have gone to break up with Nicole. That can't possibly take long. 'Uh, hey Nicole, uh, I'm out. Bye.'_ She giggled at her little Lukeish fantasy, but immediately felt a twinge of regret for her joke, knowing that breakups were always painful. Lorelai inadvertently forgot how long her relationship with Max lasted, on-again, then off-again, then the engagement, after which things really got awkward. Breaking up with him seemed like it took months.

Rory took charge of logistics for the move. "Here's your breakfast with coffee," she ordered. "Mine's already in my car. Get in the Jeep and drive. I'll see you there. If we hurry, we won't miss the mattress guy."

* * *

The move to Yale went smoothly, as did the registration and settling in. Lorelai made one more big shopping trip, picking up numerous items for the dorm room. At Rory's request, Lorelai drove back to Stars Hollow and picked up a few things that Lane still had for her.

Looking across the square, Lorelai could see Luke's truck parked out front and decided to indulge in a lot of coffee and a little flirting. Her excitement building, she walked a little faster, even skipping a step or two, a big grin on her face. She even tugged Taylor Doose's scarf as he passed by, leading a group of scouts to a nearby tree for some instruction in gluing rocks together.

While she was too far away to see who was actually in the diner, Luke looked up and noticed her crossing the square. A smile crossed his lips and was immediately misinterpreted by the woman sitting directly in front of him.

Nicole mirrored his smile, only hers was a little toothier and a lot more hopeful. She pulled a thick envelope out of her butter-soft burgundy leather briefcase and held it tightly in both hands.

"This is the draft of the divorce filing," she said, adding, "there are a couple of things to discuss first, though."

Luke smiled again, happy to think that the papers were finally ready after countless meetings with lawyers from Nicole's firm. _Finally, the first step in the breakup. Get the divorce out of the way._

Approaching the diner, Lorelai could see Luke at the counter, a big smile on his face as he dealt with a customer. When she realized who he was smiling at, she gasped. _Nicole. Smiling at Nicole? Could this be the happiest breakup in history? No, too weird. What if he changed his mind?_

"Let's put the divorce on hold," Nicole coaxed. "We were happy before the cruise. Let's go back to that time." She grabbed onto his hand and rubbed her slender fingers over the fine hair on the back, tickling in the process. Normally he reacted, but today he didn't even notice.

Luke's face fell into a scowl at those words. In an effort to process, he looked around the nearly-empty diner, then out the window at Lorelai again. His scowl only deepened as he saw her expression change in a flash from a bubbly grin to her present shocked look. That last look hit him in his gut.

As he tried to pull his hand away, Nicole grasped it more firmly. "Luke, this is important. I want us to be happy. Married and happy."

Torn between wanting to go outside to be with Lorelai, and needing to finish this with Nicole, Luke reluctantly decided to finish the divorce discussion. He looked at Lorelai one more time, trying to send her an apologetic look, but she had dropped her gaze to the street, apparently trying to decide whether to come in or not.

She decided for not and was gone the next time Luke looked out the window. The bells rattled as the last customers left, leaving their money on the table. Luke didn't notice their departure.

"Luke?" prodded Nicole. _This is ridiculous. I know he's quiet, but he hasn't said a word in ten minutes._

"Aw, hell," he said, mostly to himself. He finally looked Nicole in the eyes. "Sorry, I got distracted. Where were we?"

Nicole gripped the envelope until her knuckles turned white. "I'm your wife, telling you I love you, and want to stay married. Can we reconsider the divorce?"

_Shit. Where the hell is a road trip when a guy needs one?_

"You want to reconsider the divorce?" he repeated.

Holding his hand out for the papers, she hesitated, then handed them over, repeating, "These are just preliminary. There's a lot more work that goes in them before they can be filed."

He ripped open the envelope and looked at the papers. Page after page of legal mumbo-jumbo, all supposed to dissolve a marriage created one drunken evening on a boat in the middle of nowhere.

"What still needs to be done with the papers?" he asked.

"Not a lot," she said. "Basically just checking all the details. There's a lot of checking that goes on. If something's not right, that could nullify the divorce."

"Nullify, right, got it. Got to get the details right," confirmed Luke.

"Luke," Nicole said, starting to lose patience. "Can we please reconsider?"

"Why would we reconsider? We agreed that we wanted a divorce."

"I was thinking maybe we could start dating again," she proposed.

"You want to stay married, but date?" This was getting more confusing by the minute.

"Yes. Why can't we have what we had before?" Nicole smiled. Once Luke was on the right path to a decision, he usually didn't disappoint.

"Which was?"

"Two people who loved being together."

"We're in the middle of a divorce."

"We can postpone it."

"We can?"

"Yes, I'm a lawyer, I know these things."

"Postpone the divorce and date?"

"Remember? Dating was the fun part." At this point, Nicole regretted the whole cruise thing. She'd taken her chance to get a bigger commitment from Luke, but it had backfired.

"So what you're saying is we get back together, not divorced, but not be married, either?"

"Technically, no, we'd be married, but not married married."

"Which means we'd be married."

"Married, but dating, not married married," she repeated. A practiced negotiator, Nicole felt this slipping through her fingers.

"We both agreed that getting married on the cruise ship was a bad idea, right?"

"Right."

"But you want to go back to dating?"

"Right."

"So we could, if we wanted, get divorced and clear all that paperwork up, and start dating then, right?"

"Technically yes, but if we kept dating and one day decided to get married, we'd already be married." This was Nicole's preferred state. If she could just keep Luke's focus on this option, she knew he'd eventually agree.

"Or, if we dated and decided we didn't want to date anymore, we'd still have the marriage and divorce hanging over our heads," surmised Luke. "Except by then the papers would probably have to be checked again, right?"

"Well, probably," she agreed. This was an option she never intended to experience.

Luke set the papers on the back counter next to the coffee machine and turned back to Nicole. Placing both hands on the counter, he pushed one leg backwards as he looked at the floor. Difficult didn't begin to describe what he had to do in this moment.

"Nicole," he began, "I think I want to do option 3." Once those words were out of his mouth, Luke was able to straighten up and stand calmly in front of her.

"Option 3?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah. That's the one where we get divorced and don't start dating again."

"Oh." His option hit her in the heart like a truck. She waited a minute before saying more. "You do know that I love you, right?"

"Yeah." Eyes back to the floor.

"And you …?"

"Sorry, Nicole. We should never have gone on that cruise."

Nicole knew she had lost this round. "Oh. OK. Then I'll put the papers in motion. If you have any questions, just contact the guy on the first page. He'll have all the details."

She took her purse and her briefcase and walked to the door. "Luke, if you ever want to rethink this, just let me know, OK?" Her body shuddered from disappointment and tension.

Luke managed to do one more really difficult thing. He walked to the door, held it for her, and said, "Got it. It won't happen, Nicole, so don't … uh, just, uh, take care."

Tears in her eyes, she walked out the door. Luke locked the door, flipped the Closed sign, dropped the blinds on the door, then slid to the ground, his head in his hands.


	5. Distraction

**A/N: Even though I normally alternate between this and my other stories Relationship Renaissance, Bon Voyage and A Really Nice Man, I felt so bad leaving Luke and Lorelai sad at the end of chapter four, so here's a little something to keep their blues away.**

* * *

LFI5 Distraction

Mid-morning on Sunday, Lorelai dragged her sad butt into the diner. As she eyed the room, strategically trying to find the best table, her shoulders slumped as she realized that there was no need – she would be dining alone today. There was no need to drive Kirk away from his favorite seat, or to hover near a stranger in an attempt to intimidate them to leave early, or even to worry about Luke's temper as he chased her away from paying customers. Rory wasn't there.

Last night, giving into fear of the unknown, Rory asked her mother to spend the first night in the dorm with her, which Lorelai was more than happy to do. More than just making Rory comfortable in her new surroundings, Lorelai was able to help her integrate into this strange youth-focused society by dropping big bucks on a dorm-wide takeout food test.

It was also Lorelai's first night at college, something she had missed in her youth because she'd chosen a different path. Lorelai saw that she would have done well in the social activities in college; truthfully, she was capable of fitting into almost any group social event that didn't require sports knowledge. Also capable of accepting her choices in life, she wasn't jealous at all of leaving and letting Rory have her shot at college life.

She was, however, sad that their Gilmore Girls club had branched out to New Haven. There would be far fewer midnight movie sessions erupting in food fights or heart-to-heart talks. A smaller selection of clothes in the Crap Shack to choose from, and no one to fight with over the most beloved pieces. No one to blame for the Easter peeps that had been swept under the dishwasher instead of being put in the trash can. Lorelai was happy for her daughter, but sad for the end of their exclusive relationship.

So, rather than sallying forth to bravely conquer the finest table, she sadly slumped onto the first available stool at the counter. Overnight she had become sad-butt slumpy girl.

Luke, on the other side of the diner taking orders from a large family, knew she was there and knew something was wrong. The crackle in the atmosphere that occurred when she was in the room was almost nonexistent. Not even the diner door seemed to recognize her, because Luke hadn't heard the unique jingle it gave when Lorelai entered. Physics of jangling bells be damned, Luke could hear those bells announce her arrival every time.

Luke was sad, too, but he wasn't a sad-butt like Lorelai. A butt as fine as his couldn't carry sadness – it simply made women too happy. His sadness looked a lot like grumpy, except the frown was deeper, he was even less talkative, and his eyes held a vulnerability that most people missed. In other words, no one even noticed Luke's sadness. They only noticed that instead of being grumpy, Luke was grumpier.

His sadness came from having to disappoint Nicole. He hated disappointing people he cared about, and the interchange with Nicole last night had been one of the hardest of his life.

He'd gone with his gut and Jess' sardonic encouragement when he invited Nicole on their first dinner date. When she showed interest in going to fancy restaurants and taking walking tours of cities, he repressed his hatred of all things urban and researched nice places to go. Luke hated dating, but with a little motivation, he didn't suck at it. He liked Nicole well enough to be motivated.

What Luke sucked at was saying no. After about the third date, he knew there was no point in continuing, but Nicole's obvious attraction to him motivated her to be the social planner in the relationship. And Nicole was persistent.

He tried pulling back in his Luke-ish way, but she only had to use the simplest of negotiation skills to get him to agree to another date, another outing, another night at her place. It wasn't manipulation; she simply made herself available and clearly expressed her interest in him. Like the proverbial frog in the pot, Luke kept saying yes to the little things until suddenly the little things had become cruises and discussions about living together. And getting fucking married. As best he could remember, less than an hour passed between the idea of a wedding being planted in Nicole's brain by their dinner companions and signing the papers. Luke spent more time choosing curtains than he did agreeing to get married.

His stupid drunken decision led to last night's painful discussion with Nicole, her broken heart, and Luke's frown today. He was sad because he'd been too agreeable, too accommodating of Nicole's suggestions, ignoring the impact on her. Now he'd hurt her worse than if he'd just been a man and broken up on the third date like he'd wanted to. The sadness etched itself into his face, making the lines around his mouth deeper and darker, which wasn't helped at all by his constant frown. He was frowning man.

Slumpy girl encountered frowning man when he appeared before her with a giant mug and filled it with coffee. Each totally involved in his or her own pity party, neither said a word, they just looked at each other dully as the silence grew uncomfortable. Lorelai, less experienced with feeling sad, broke first.

"You OK?" slumpy girl asked glumly, still slumping on her stool.

"I did what I had to do yesterday. It hurt like hell," frowny boy replied, his frown getting impossibly deeper.

"Nicole?" she mouthed, not wanting to make their conversation public.

He nodded morosely. "And you?"

"She's gone. No kid, no job, no money. I feel like a country western song."

"Well for god's sake, don't start singing. I might commit suicide."

"My song would be 'I'm So Lonesome, I Could Cry.' Hank Williams must have sent a kid to college."

"Seriously, the singing/suicide connection – I mean it."

"You get 'Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.' Willie's the only guy for a breakup." Lorelai's mood started to improve, and she looked at Luke more carefully. "Your eyes are darker today. They're … uh, kind of amazing." There was another tingle, this time lower in her body. Way too low for a tingle of friendship.

"My mother loved that song," Luke said, looking around the diner, but in his mind seeing the hardware store. "Crazily enough, she only sang it when she was happy, or when one of us needed cheering up. She came into the store once when I was really pissed about something. Next thing I knew she was calling me 'Blue Eyes' and dancing me around the room." His frown disappeared as he reminisced.

"God, now your eyes are light again," she marveled. "How do you do that? Do you have a switch or something?"

Luke was caught off-balance when he looked at Lorelai's shirt. "Are you wearing the same clothes you wore yesterday?"

"Yeah, Rory asked me to spend the night. We did all the college girl stuff: ate pizza, gossiped, went on a panty raid to the boys' floor. Got some nice boxers in your size."

"I don't know how to respond to that," he said, slightly flustered at the thought of Lorelai in panties, bringing him underwear.

"You could feed me," she suggested, sitting up straight.

"That I can do. What'll it be?"

"Pancakes, sausage and a side of Rory." The slump was back.

"Sorry, Rory was yesterday's special."

"That's OK, the idea was a little macabre. Instead of Rory, why don't you bring those pretty eyes of yours back when you bring my food and show me the rest of your light show? Maybe set 'em up on a little stand so I can point them at things?"

Luke felt a touch queasy. "You call that less macabre?" He sighed. "I'll put your order in."

* * *

Lorelai was still there long after finishing her breakfast. Luke had no active orders, so he was working behind the counter, organizing and replenishing supplies, knowing that Lorelai would begin talking when she was ready, which was far better than listening to the recriminations running through his brain. Maybe he should go for a walk or something to chase off the bad feelings, distract himself a little.

Looking surreptitiously at Lorelai, he noticed that she was still moping. He cleaned off the condiments shelf, wiped it down and replaced everything neatly in their baskets. That was the last shelf; everything behind the counter was now in perfect shape.

He popped up rather quickly, catching Lorelai by surprise.

"Where did you come from?" she gasped.

"I was right here the whole time," he replied, leaning onto the counter and playing with the napkin near her coffee cup. He cocked his head, looked at her shrewdly and said, "You're moping."

"What?" Lorelai had already gone back to staring into her coffee cup.

"You're moping."

"No I'm not."

"Uh, yeah, you are."

She looked at him sadly. "Well, so what if I am? That's my whole afternoon: moping. Maybe I'll go a little wild this evening and sulk."

"That plan sucks."

"Oh, and you've got a better one, Mr. Frown? You haven't cracked a smile all morning." She squared her shoulders, preparing for banter.

"I might." Getting that rise out of her turned up the corners of his mouth.

"You might what? For goodness' sake, try to put half a dozen words together in a complete thought, or we'll be here all day." A small spark began to light in her eye. "Or is that your plan? Irritate me all afternoon?"

"Tempting, just for the chance to pay you back for all the times you irritated me on purpose."

She smiled. "See? You can put complete thoughts into a sentence. Good boy, you deserve a cookie. So what's your plan?"

Luke rolled his eyes, reconsidering the idea, but he quickly decided that anything was better than dwelling on his problems all afternoon.

"Distraction," he proudly announced.

"And we're back to monosyllabic man," she said, wrinkling her nose at him, looking rather like a rabbit.

"Nope, that's three syllables." Luke knew that would get a rise out of her.

It didn't. She put her hand back under her chin and said, "I think I'll stick with moping."

"OK, full sentence, although it might kill me," he deadpanned. "Let's go out and do something to distract ourselves for a few hours." He grimaced as he spoke, pretending to suffer.

She raised her eyebrows and straightened her back. "I'm listening," she replied. "What did you have in mind?"

"Uh, I hadn't gotten that far. Usually you roll right over me with so many ideas my head spins."

"My idea? Moping. Maybe with ice cream."

"See? You're making progress. How about a movie? You like movies."

"What kind of movie?"

"Something loud and distracting. Maybe a shoot-em-up film?"

Lorelai perked up a bit more. "Minority Report with Tom Cruise?"

"Has he had acting lessons yet?"

"No, …"

"Then no."

"Chicago?"

"Saw it," said Luke.

"You saw Chicago? Dancing, singing mobsters? When did you see Chicago?" Lorelai couldn't begin to imagine Luke at that film.

He looked at her with narrowed eyes. "We need a rule – no discussing things that will cause either one of us to mope again."

"Oh! I didn't think. Sorry," she said, realizing that he must have seen that film with Nicole. "How about the Sum of All Fears? Gangs of New York?"

"Never heard of either of those, so yeah."

"Good! It's a plan. I'll go home, get ready and look up the movie times."

"OK, I'll call Lane and see if she can come in." Since Lane had already asked for extra hours this weekend, he presumed it would be a non-issue.

On the outside chance that he'd still have time after the movie, Luke tossed his batting gear into the back of the truck. There's no better way to release stress than to pound the hell out of a few dozen baseballs, he thought.

His elbows felt the heat of the truck as he leaned against it to put his gear bag into the back. The sun was beating down pretty hard, even for a late summer's day. His normal flannel and jeans were going to be too hot. Upstairs, he rifled through his closet, finally settling on a pair of khaki shorts and a shirt that was loose enough to bat in, but still covered his arms. The plain cotton knit shirt was gray with Red Sox red raglan sleeves, and was a favorite of his when he played pickup softball with Dean and some other local guys.

He had almost arrived at Lorelai's when he saw her crossing her front yard. Her shorts and T-shirt, not too tight, not too short, were perfectly aligned with both the weather and the plan for their afternoon.

"Hey," he called, waving out the window as he pulled to a stop. "You're ready?"

"Yep, just on my way to the diner. You were fast," she commented.

He looked down at her shoes, strappy pink sandals. "Why don't you go get some sneakers? I've got an idea of something to do after the movie."

"More distraction?" she asked, smiling. "Give me a minute." She ran up the stairs and walked into the house through the unlocked door.

Luke sighed, parked the truck and met her on the porch, his arms crossed.

"Lock the door."

"This is Stars Hollow."

"Then do it as a favor to me. Lock the door."

"You know, the only person who ever broke into my house is you. You broke the lock."

"I fixed it too, and with a good lock, not that cheap one. Lock the door."

As they walked to the truck, he said, "You know you can call me anytime, right? If you hear a sound or get scared? Day or night."

"Yes, Grandma, you do remember we live in Stars Hollow?" teased Lorelai, basking in the feeling that Luke cared enough to make sure she locked her doors.

"I'm just saying," he said.

* * *

"Move over one chair."

"No, that would put me into the seat you just spilled Coke into."

"But my snacks are there. I can't be away from my movie snacks."

"Your hands are full already. If you want something different, just ask. I'll give it to you."

"Here, taste this," she offered, holding several popcorn kernels in front of Luke's mouth.

He allowed her to feed him. "My god, how much butter did you put on that?"

"Almost enough. Gotta have butter on the popcorn."

"I think I'm gonna be sick."

"If so, then turn to your right. They're going to have to clean that chair anyway." Lorelai grinned at him mischievously.

"Will you at least change seats with me?" she persisted.

"No, the movie's starting."

"Good," said Lorelai, reaching across Luke's stomach while she tried to hold the popcorn bag under her chin.

"Oof! What are you doing?" he hissed as she accidentally elbowed him.

"Red Vines," she whispered roughly in the direction of his shoulder.

"Here." He took the popcorn out of her hands and put the open bag of Red Vines into them. Rather than put the paper popcorn bag onto the Coke spill, he opted to hold it instead.

"Thank you." She smiled at him and watched his flatlined lips curve slightly up in response.

Satisfied she'd met her goal of distracting Luke, Lorelai settled back into her chair to enjoy the movie.

Luke settled as well, satisfied that Lorelai was also properly distracted by his attempts to deflect her deliberately annoying actions. He rubbed his tongue over his teeth, wishing he hadn't tried the popcorn. It was really disgusting, even though he liked popcorn in general. He looked into the bag, tilting it toward the screen to take advantage of the light. Sure enough, off to the side was popcorn without quite so much grease. He grabbed a small handful and dropped them into his mouth, one at a time.

Watching a definitely not-gorgeous Ben Affleck wearing an ill-fitting suit and sitting behind Morgan Freeman, Lorelai's thoughts drifted to the rarely-observed gorgeousness sitting beside her. They'd seen each other in bathing suits before, on those hot days when half the town gathered at the lake to cool off. While she and Rory tried to stay as long as possible, Luke came to the lake, dropped his clothes and towel into a pile on the ground and swam until he was done. He never sunbathed, which Lorelai had always found puzzling, since his skin had an enviable olive tone, the color her former high school classmates strived for to the tune of fifty bucks a month at tanning salons.

She looked at Luke's muscular legs as they extended past his shorts. Men's legs were funny, she thought. Not funny-looking; it was weird that hairy legs made men's legs sexier and women's less sexy. She barely resisted an urge to run her fingertips over the hair on Luke's legs, but didn't prevent her bare leg coming into contact with his when each of them scooched down in their seats.

"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about. Explosion, destruction, loose nukes," said Luke under his breath, fighting to appear unaware of the contact that Lorelai kept with his leg as she wiggled back and forth in her chair. Lorelai looked sideways at him then giggled at Luke's boyish pleasure in destruction. He nudged her with his elbow as a warning to keep her eyes on the screen.

"Oh, that is so true. That was a lame excuse Jack gave his girlfriend," said Lorelai as Jack Ryan explained to his girlfriend why he stood her up.

"It was the truth!" whispered Luke in her ear.

"Totally unbelievable," she whispered back, placing her hand on his shoulder to get leverage. She let her hand slide down his sleeve, then leaned against his arm as they watched the rest of the movie.

* * *

"I loved the Russian scientist's T-shirt - 'I am a bomb technician. If you see me running, try to catch up.' That is going to be your Christmas gift, mister," Lorelai giggled as they exited the theater.

"Was that distracting enough?" Luke asked.

"Oh yeah, I love getting all involved in a movie, and this one had everything – action, love, spies, and Morgan Freeman. Gotta love Morgan Freeman. What did you like best?"

"I liked the car blowing up at the end. Everything looked safe, but then Kablooey! And the bad guy was gone."

"Heehee, you said Kablooey. That was funny. Say it again!" she teased.

"No," he said, hiding a smile.

"C'mon, it's one of the world's greatest words: Kablooey Kablooey Kablooey!"

"Now you sound like something out of the Batman TV show."

"Batgirl!" she shouted, dancing around Luke as they walked. "Wanna be my sidekick, Robin?"

"Not if I have to wear tights."

"I'll make you a costume out of flannel and denim. We'll call you Burger Boy. What's gonna be your superpower?"

"I move my arm and coffee appears in your cup?"

"Best superpower ever!" she agreed.

As they reached the truck, Lorelai asked, "Hey Burger Boy, what else did you have planned?"

"Put on your sneakers. I thought we'd take some wooden sticks and beat some little round objects until we've worked out all of our frustrations."

"Violence? Sounds like it's worth a try. Let's go."

A short drive brought them to the outskirts of Hartford. Luke hopped out of the truck, grabbed his gear bag from the truck bed and met Lorelai at the entrance to the batting cages.

Lorelai looked around uncomfortably. Seeing her expression, Luke put his hand on her back to guide her in the right direction.

"Don't worry," he said, "It'll be fun once you have the hang of it."

He moved over to the cashier to pay for their tokens and get a helmet for Lorelai. She looked around with interest, and it didn't take long for the regulars to start circling the beautiful woman. Her shorts and short-sleeved top drew no shortage of admirers.

"Hey," began a redheaded young man in a Yankees baseball jersey, "Interested in a practice round?"

One eyebrow raised, she responded with barely disguised humor, "Practicing what?"

"Well," he said confidently, "I can give you some pointers on stance and holding the bat."

"That's really nice of you, um, what was your name?" she asked.

"Miles," he said, "because that's how far I hit it." Lorelai had heard some lame pickup lines in her day, but Miles' line was miles lamer than even the worst of the others. She chuckled at her pun, which Miles took as encouragement.

"Let me just check with my … friend," she said, deliberately drawing out the pause. She saw Luke nearing their little group. Recognizing immediately what was happening, he wasn't at all surprised when Lorelai stepped quickly over to him and put her arms around his waist.

"Hey, sugar, Miles here was just offering to give us some tips on, what was it, Miles, 'holding the bat?'" She lay her head affectionately on his shoulder as the two of them looked at Miles and his friends. The group of young men, most barely out of their teens, were dwarfed by Luke's broad shoulders and muscular V-shaped torso.

"That's nice," he said, playing along. He wordlessly focused his steely gaze on Miles, who immediately backed down, finding excuses to get the heck out of there as quickly as possible.

Luke put his hand on her shoulder as Lorelai reluctantly released her hold on Luke's fit, slim waist.

"Am I going to have to play bodyguard all afternoon?" he smiled.

"No way, you promised me a chance to beat things with sticks. Can't pass up that opportunity," she replied.

Starting with her, Luke fitted and strapped the helmet to her head, thumping it once with his knuckles as he finished.

"Not yet," he cautioned as she reached for a bat. "I'm not letting you near one of those things until I'm reasonably sure they won't have to carry me out of here on a stretcher."

Lorelai giggled, "Making sure you take care of the family jewels?"

"In a batting cage, always," he said. "It's fun, but can be as dangerous as driving a car. That's why you're going to either do what I say or sit it out. Got it?"

"Got it, coach." She saluted him briskly.

Explaining the basics of batting and positioning her properly, he let the first few balls pass by so she could try to keep her eye on the ball. He then demonstrated how to hit, bringing her over when she seemed to have a feel for the process.

Carefully putting a light aluminum bat in her hands, he guided her through a few practice swings before letting her try with the ball machine. He stepped out of the cage and let her try her hand. Lots of missed balls later she finally connected with one, then eventually more.

"OK, Lorelai, you've got it now. Just relax and give it all you got. Think of all your frustrations being knocked out of the park." He watched for a few pitches more, then added "C'mon, slugger. Really lay into it. "

Lorelai first imagined the hundreds of decisions still not made for the Dragonfly, then her separation from Rory, then the budget for the inn, and kept hitting. Misses and hits followed one another as the frustrations helped her keep her focus on the balls flying at her and she connected with more than she ever imagined. Before she knew it, she was sweating and exhausted.

"Done," she called. Luke switched off the machine and re-entered the cage.

"You did great," he said, holding out a hand towel. She wiped her forehead and neck and bent over slightly until she could breathe normally again. Her arms shook from the exertion.

"That was fun," she said, "but my arms are tingling."

Luke rubbed her arms down one by one until she felt better, then moved their gear to the fast pitch cage.

Handing her a bottle of cold water, he said, "You may need to holler to get my attention. I can forget the world when I catch my rhythm."

He entered the cage, adjusted the machine, then began stretching as he faced Lorelai.

"Are you having fun?" he asked.

"Yes!" she said, pleased. "I wouldn't have thought this would be fun, but it was really good to think about nothing else except hitting the next ball."

He smiled broadly at her. "I'm glad," he said. "We should have done this years ago."

True to his word, Luke quickly became lost in the action of hitting. Countless balls with lawyer's names on them were smashed as hard as he could hit them. Many balls were pounded at the guilt he felt for hurting Nicole when he could have prevented it, had he been just a little more decisive in taking action. Numerous swings had Taylor's name on them, but most of the baseballs were mindlessly hit simply for him to enjoy the shock of the bat compressing the ball before it flew away, his muscles reacting to the forces applied.

Lorelai watched, fascinated. This concentration was beyond anything she'd ever seen him use in the diner, even when there were dozens of customers vying for his attention. This was Luke in his element. Sitting on a bench behind the cage, she had the perfect position to admire the fluid motion of his swing. Also his form as he leaned back, then smoothly swung the bat in the nearly complete circle, always watching the ball.

She had never found Luke as attractive as she had since she returned from Europe. Today wasn't just about his remarkable body, which she had the opportunity to see and feel up close like never before. It was more about his being willing to show her a side of him that she'd never seen before. He was so open, so receptive to just spending time together. Even though he'd never be a forward guy like Max, or blatant like Miles, the idea that he might be interested in her as more than a customer turned into confidence.

"OK, I'm done," he gasped, turning toward Lorelai, leaning against a post of the cage. When he exited the cage, she stood ready with his towel she had dug out of his bag. She took the wooden bat from his hands, almost dropping it.

"Whoa, this is heavy," she commented, "not like mine."

Red-faced from his exercise, Luke just nodded, breathing too heavily to explain the reasons for different bat weights. Lorelai took her nearly dry towel and helped rub him down, noticing that his muscles seemed even larger than when she sat beside him in the movie theater.

She handed him a bottle of water when he sat down to rest. He nodded his thanks, then proceeded to empty the small bottle quickly. She handed him a second bottle and sat beside him.

"You really love this, don't you?" she asked.

"Like you love movies," he replied, his skin tone returning to normal.

"But you can't talk about it in social situations, like I do movies," she smirked.

"Oh yes I can. Your eyes just glaze over and you stop listening when we start talking baseball statistics at the diner. I'm not sure you've ever heard a single conversation between Bill and me." His friend Bill was his baseball buddy, going to games together on those rare occasions they found the time and could get the tickets.

"That's because the discussion is boring. You guys start spouting numbers and using jargon I don't understand," she dared to say, trying to rile him up a little.

He arched an eyebrow, saying, "But you think kitten heels are important? What the hell are kitten heels anyway?"

She giggled, delighted to get a rise out of him. She regaled him with the wonders of Jimmy Choos as they packed their gear to drive back to Stars Hollow.

* * *

Two ice cream cones and one extra-large coffee later, they entered Stars Hollow. Lorelai offered to show Luke the current state of the Dragonfly, and he readily accepted.

The building itself had been stripped to the bare bones, and many important supporting walls and other critical facilities were being overhauled to support the needs of a busy modern inn. Lorelai and Sookie had worked hard to get a design that fell barely within budget, yet contained as many of their wishes as possible. During their travels, Lorelai had stayed in contact with Sookie and Tom, but had nearly driven Rory crazy talking and worrying about the construction.

Lorelai, happy to have Luke as a new audience for her dream, wove a tale of future guests, events and parties to be had, a far more modest inn than the Independence Inn, but homey, comfortable and welcoming in a way no larger facility could ever be. Luke was enchanted, seeing the contrast between the pragmatic diner that had been his dream and the fantasy world that Lorelai was going to make very real indeed.

"Horses? You're really going to start with horses?" he asked as he helped her step down the stack of cinder blocks that connected the house with the back garden. "I thought people just need a place to sleep."

"At Motel 6 they just need a place to sleep. An inn needs to have character. Horses will be part of our character. Quiet, gentle horses that can take kids on easy guided rides, or adults who can manage a horse by themselves. Just a couple to start, but maybe three or four when the place makes a profit."

"You're crazy, you know," he commented. That would be like him adding a pinball room onto the diner. _Actually, not such a bad idea. Maybe I'll keep that in mind._

"Crazy is exactly the way I like it," she replied, sauntering down the hill to the lake. "I can't wait any longer; tell me what you think of the inn so far."

"It's crazy, and impossible, and amazing, and wonderful all at once. I don't know how you do it."

"It's a Lorelai thing," she shrugged, yawning as she lay back on the grass on the side of the hill. A lone blue heron took off from the marsh, annoyed at his fishing prospects being ruined by a crazy dreamer and her compadre.

"That's true," he said, relaxing as well. "When they made you they broke the mold."

Even sleepier now, she said, "I tried making a Jello mold once. When I dropped the Jello onto the plate, it broke the plate." Before she could elaborate, she dozed off.

Luke sat there, watching the fish break the surface of the water occasionally. It had been a good day; if pressed, he would be forced to use the word 'fun' to describe it. _Far better than the last couple of days._

As his companion breathed evenly next to him, he thought about her. They didn't break the mold after making Lorelai; in all probability Lorelai blew the mold to smithereens coming out of it on her own. He chuckled. She probably couldn't wait to be on her own, so she did it her way. _Now that's a Lorelai thing._

Thinking back to Friday, he wondered about that guy sitting in the truck behind the diner. Waiting for Lorelai to make a move was simply never going to happen, not in the way that Rachel and Nicole had made their moves. They had fit his mold. They let him know in no uncertain terms that they were interested; they made themselves available. Lorelai wasn't that obvious in anything, much less love. People who didn't keep up with her missed a lot of the best of Lorelai. Even her unique brand of crazy made sense eventually; that's one of the reasons he found her so special.

If that guy in the truck on Friday night was going to keep waiting for Lorelai to make a move and fit his mold, or worse yet, give up on her, then that guy was a dumbass.

He sighed and lay back on the grass, accidentally brushing her elbow. Her eyes popped open, she looked at him and said, "Hey."

"Hay is for horses," he responded. "You're gonna need some before the inn opens."

She gave a little snort, then lay her arm across her forehead to shade her eyes.

They grew quiet; for several minutes, they enjoyed the sounds of nature around them and the sun beating down. It was a perfect Connecticut summer's day. Luke lay against the slope of the hill, his arms crossed behind his head, sunglasses protecting his eyes from the bright sky and his heart from betraying just how much he loved this moment; how much he loved this woman lying next to him.

"Was this a date?" she asked softly.

"No, it was a distraction," he replied, surprised at her question. He swallowed, taking a second before continuing. _Time to man up, Danes. This is your chance, don't blow it this time._

In that same second Lorelai's mind flashed back to the diner on Saturday evening and his smile for Nicole. Did she ask this question too soon? Of course she did.

Lorelai was impatient and she knew it. Impatient to an extreme, this was possibly her greatest weakness. The balancing strength for impatience, though, was hope; no matter how bad things were, she was the first to wish for the good beyond the bad. Before she could withdraw her question or change the topic, Luke spoke again.

"I wish it had been." Luke's heart was racing, wondering how she would respond.

The sun beat down relentlessly, amplifying the tension between them. Luke rationalized that it must be the sun and not his wish, for the sweat appearing on his brow.

"Me, too," she answered calmly, her words unraveling the knot in her stomach.

"Yeah?" he asked, turning his head to face her. He clenched his fingers tightly behind his head to prevent himself from grabbing her and taking their relationship to a place far beyond the normal next step for a dating couple.

That place would involve first getting arrested for public indecency here at the lake, and after they were bailed out of jail, locking themselves in a room for weeks of passionate lovemaking followed by the certain loss of their livelihoods, starving the citizens of Stars Hollow and leaving Rory feeling as if she were an orphan.

Instead, Luke simply said, "Good."

* * *

"This may be the happiest day of my life," said Luke as he stood next to Lorelai.

"What makes me think that you're not referring to uh, um, this?" she asked, waving her hand between the two of them to indicate their recent discussion at the inn.

Luke turned reluctantly away from the sight and watched her gesture. "What? Uh, no, um … No! Wait! Yes!" Luke stumbled over his words as he realized his error. "Well, that and uh, this, too. Definitely this, too."

"That's OK," she said consolingly with a hint of teasing, "We haven't even decided if we want to go on a date yet. But what we're seeing before our eyes is big. Really big. Bigger than Luke and Lorelai."

Luke looked at Lorelai dumbly; confusion, regret, affection and hope formed a maelstrom in his brain.

"I can't process all this at once. It's too much!" He dry-washed his face, trying to line up his thoughts. _One thing at a time._

He turned completely to face her and stopped looking across the street. "OK, us." He looked at her as her eyes twinkled with laughter at his adorably awkward efforts to sort out his emotions.

"Yes to us," he rushed out his words. "Whatever it is, yes. Whatever you want, OK?" He looked at Lorelai hopefully, hopes and dreams as innocent as a little boy's reflected in his eyes.

"Good offer. I accept." _Whatever I want?_ A thousand ideas flashed through her brain, both loving and whimsical. She was going to enjoy that promise later on.

Luke breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Good. Now can we just be in the moment here? It's not going to last much longer and I really don't want to miss a thing."

"Me neither. This is going down in Stars Hollow history," she replied.

Luke's smile turned into a grin that stretched from ear to ear as they watched the drama playing out in front of Doose's Market. Officer Cooper stood outside the market, asking customers to please wait while his fellow officer took care of the business inside. Coop gave Luke a smiling nod and tipped his hat to Lorelai as they stood across the street.

"Handcuffs. I hope they use handcuffs," Lorelai said, clapping her hands.

At that moment Coop opened the door as the other officer escorted Taylor Doose to the waiting police car. With all the formality of their office, they guided him into the back seat, where he had no control over the doors or windows. As they drove away, he looked out the window at Lorelai and Luke, an outraged look on his face.

Coop came over to Lorelai and Luke. Lorelai was already pouting due to the lack of handcuffs on Taylor's perp walk.

"Looks like the first stage is in process, Luke. We've got convincing evidence that Taylor planned the damage to the diner," he said.

"Nice to see the law used against him for a change," commented Luke.

"Do you think you'll be filing civil charges as well?" Coop asked.

"Nah, I'll just live with the mistake I made when I agreed to become his landlord. Better to let it go than to spend the next five years fighting him in court." The lease of his building for the ice cream shop was not something Luke was going to fight, and he didn't want to bring up the fact that he hated lawyers now more than ever.

"Did you find any of the items taken from the diner?" asked Lorelai.

"Nothing yet," said Officer Cooper. "We really don't know what we're looking for."

Lorelai had sat and stared at the wall for years. Some items Luke had allowed Rory to play with when the girls were just starting to come to the diner. Others had been shared during those quiet evenings when no one was in the diner except for Lorelai, Rory and Luke. On a few occasions it was the most fascinating wall in the universe as she choked back tears from one of the debacles known as Friday Night Dinner. If anyone knew what was on that wall, it was Lorelai; she knew it maybe better than Luke did. Lorelai knew exactly what to look for.

She committed herself to find Luke's precious memories. She hoped she would succeed.

* * *

Luke walked Lorelai home in the dusk that evening, the anticipation of dating filling their minds and tying their tongues. Beginning this day as friends and ending it with the hope of more, Lorelai's fingers sought out Luke's strong hand as they walked, curling two of her fingers tentatively around two of his. With a twist of his wrist her hand was completely enveloped in his, comforting yet more than a little thrilling.

Before they neared the Crap Shack, Luke pulled Lorelai off to the side in a sheltered area where no one normally walked. They could talk privately there. He knew he needed to tell her. Again, standing in front of her, looking at her, he was at a loss for words and getting more nervous by the second.

"So, uh, this afternoon." He anxiously wiped his hands down the legs of his shorts, then rushed the next words out. "I meant what I said. I wish we'd been on a date."

"Are you asking me on a date now?" she asked, an open, hopeful smile on her face.

"Um, yeah, sorta, but there's a problem."

"A problem?" she asked.

"The breakup with Nicole isn't quite finished," he said, embarrassed.

"I don't know what that means. Did you break up with her or not?" This really didn't sound good to her.

"Yes, definitely. No more dating. It's over. I never expect to see her again. It's just that there are a few other er, complications," Luke said.

"What kind of complications?"

It was just too hard, too shameful to say. Instead, Luke said, "Lorelai, can I ask you to just trust me for a little while? There are just a couple of things to take care of before it's completely over."

Lorelai thought about this for a moment, uttered a surprised "Oh!" She squeezed his arm out of friendship, but felt a pang of worry in her heart. Of course he needs some time.

"Luke, I forgot that the breakup was only yesterday! I'm so sorry I didn't think of that earlier. Of course this will take time." She frowned, then looked at him with a worried look. She didn't want to say this, but knew she needed to offer it.

She continued, "Do you need time alone to process?" Her eyes drifted off him, already trying to decide if she had the willpower to avoid the diner and its proprietor until the 'complications' were resolved.

Luke looked at Lorelai open-jawed with astonishment. Without warning he pulled her into a steady embrace, her arms clasped against his chest. He ruffled her hair, then pulled her head to rest on his shoulder.

"Lorelai, don't for one second think that I want to be anywhere but right here, OK? I've wanted to be here, with you, for so long. The complications are about Nicole, not me." As she lifted her face to his, he looked at her intently, trying to read what was going on in her mind.

She trusted his words because she trusted her friend and nodded her agreement, giving him a fleeting smile. Whatever Nicole needed to do didn't matter, only Luke mattered. She was looking forward to this new phase in their relationship, the transition from friends to something more. She hoped Nicole would hurry.


	6. Catfight

LFI6 Catfight

Flirting was serious business. Lorelai had honed her skills over the years in Luke's diner. A typical workout session started with the first male customer she encountered after the bells over the door signaled the start of the next round. A few warm-ups with Morey or Andrew, occasionally even Kirk or Taylor, loosened her up for the main event every day.

Her main event was also prepared, but Luke didn't warm up with practice flirts; his was a mental game. The quiet time before the breakfast rush began gave him the opportunity to steel his resolve and prepare himself for her onslaught. He had exactly one defense against flirting Lorelai – a grumpy demeanor enhanced by his ability to counter her lightning-fast repartee with deliberate indifference and often-feigned stupidity.

Today Luke had all of his shields lowered; there had been no preparation because he and Lorelai had finally opened the door to each other. As soon as the divorce papers were signed, he could behave however he wished, but even now they were free to discover this new phase of their relationship.

He stacked the dirty dishes on the table near the window before wiping it down carefully, meditating on the possibilities that lay ahead. Picking up the dishes and wiping the last corner of the table, he looked out the window and noticed Lorelai walking with Andrew. Catching her eye, he smiled broadly and held up a coffee cup, offering her some.

Lorelai momentarily lost track of Andrew's conversation as the force of Luke's smile washed over her, leaving her feeling warm and happy. She nodded and flashed him her pearly whites in return before facing Andrew again.

"You look happy today, Lorelai," said Andrew as they crossed the town square.

"I am, Andrew, more than I thought I would be after Rory left for college." _No need to mention all the reasons for my happiness. The town will find out soon enough._

"Oh, that reminds me," he said affably, "Those reference books Rory called and ordered last Monday are in. You can pick them up anytime."

"How about if I go with you now and pay for them, but let Rory pick them up on Saturday? She's coming home for the weekend, and I'm sure you'd like to hear about her first week."

Andrew agreed and they turned right to walk past Doose's. Lorelai decided to postpone the discovery of what lay behind Luke's smile for a few more minutes.

They both looked at a large black Cadillac parked outside of Doose's, as out of place in Stars Hollow as Kirk at a cotillion. They moved on just as someone exited the store, her Manolo Blahniks nearly piercing Andrew's foot as he narrowly stepped out of her way.

For a split second Lorelai could see nothing but the exquisite suede shoes and felt a maternal instinct toward them; they must be protected at all costs, so she reached out and helped Andrew steady himself as the three people stepped away from each other.

"Lorelai!"

"Nicole?"

Nicole Leahy, former girlfriend of Luke, possessor of at least one pair of Manolo Blahniks, former girlfriend of Luke, Taylor's lawyer and former girlfriend of Luke, was here in Stars Hollow, a place that neither Lorelai nor Luke expected her to ever be again.

"What brings you to Stars Hollow?" Nonplussed, Lorelai forced herself to not look at the diner. No need to remind Nicole of her past.

They circled each other around the vegetable stand in a politely sophisticated manner. No need to mess with Nicole's Manolo Blahniks; Lorelai had respect for the shoes. Scrolling mentally through her personal catalog of "Outfits that Make Luke Stutter" she knew that shoes that high with delicate ankle straps and peep-toes were among his favorites. Perfectly coiffed and dressed from her silk blouse to her cream-colored suede skirt which complemented those exquisite heels, Nicole had come to Stars Hollow loaded for bear. A bear named Luke Danes.

Andrew tucked his hand under Lorelai's elbow like he'd done a hundred times before at various town events; the two were friends and relied on each other for company or a dance partner at Miss Patty's soirées.

"Lorelai, you'll stop by later?" he suggested gently.

"Sure, Andrew, I'll be along in a minute," she smiled brilliantly at him, grateful for a moment's respite to gather her thoughts. Nicole followed every detail of their conversation, experiencing long-awaited relief that Lorelai wasn't the threat that she used to be.

"I didn't think you were a criminal lawyer," pressed Lorelai, who hadn't gotten an answer to her first question yet.

"No, I'm not. My colleague is in there right now working with Taylor. I just came along to take care of a couple of paperwork things," said Nicole coolly, vexed at this line of questioning. "How are you doing? Anything new?"

"My daughter's just left for Yale," replied Lorelai with pride. "Construction on my inn has begun as well."

"Wow, that must keep you busy. Must be difficult to start a new relationship?" Nicole asked, her eyes following Andrew's receding form. She'd heard enough about Lorelai over the months with Luke that she was confident that any relationship with Andrew must be new.

Lorelai's smile had a touch of feline self-content. "There are some new developments in that area of my life," she admitted, enjoying the fact that Nicole was thinking about Andrew. "What about you?" she countered casually, almost purring at the flash of agitation crossing Nicole's expression.

"Well, of course, …" Nicole nodded in the direction of the diner. _No need to let HER know what__'__s going on, especially since it will all get back to normal shortly. I will get Luke back._

Nicole's implication caused a sour taste in Lorelai's mouth, even though she trusted Luke completely. She had no doubts that he had broken up with the lawyer and that he wanted Lorelai. He had made that clear. Whether Nicole had accepted the breakup was a totally different question which had bugged Lorelai the past few days. She now had the answer.

Unwilling to let Nicole get away with her veiled statement, Lorelai channeled her inner Cat-Kirk and said, "Oh, I'm sure it will all work out for the best. You know Luke, it might take him a while to say something, but when he says it, he means it." Nicole's brief look of concern gave herself away.

Opting for a strategic retreat, Lorelai raised her hand and said, "I'd better go, can't keep him waiting forever." She then walked triumphantly off in the direction of Andrew's store.

Reaching the corner, Lorelai gave herself the luxury of looking back and saw Nicole entering the diner. The sour taste returned.

* * *

With no one in the diner at the moment, Luke was in the kitchen preparing for the lunch rush. The timer sounded and he left his salad preparations to take out a boysenberry pie from the oven. He smiled to himself over this pie. Lorelai's favorite, he had taken extra care to make a beautiful woven lattice crust and stuffed the pie with extra boysenberries. For once he didn't hold back on the sugar, thinking that if they had to wait for Nicole to finish the divorce paperwork, Luke could at least still do some things to spoil Lorelai a little in the meantime. Actions speak louder than words, his dad always said.

_Lorelai,_ thought Luke when the diner's bell rang and the door opened and closed. "I made your favorite pie," he called out, "I'll be out in a second."

Using a couple of folded towels to pick up the baking sheet with the pie on it, he moved toward the dining area, tilting the sheet to keep the pie plate from sliding around too much. One finger accidentally slipped and he cursed as it touched the hot metal as he went through the doorway. He looked up, ready to greet Lorelai, but instead saw Nicole's hopeful face.

"Nicole!" he cried as he accidentally touched skin to metal again. "Shit!" he exclaimed as the baking sheet tilted forward and the pie slid precariously close to the edge of the sheet. His swift reaction helped him to tilt the sheet up again to level the pie on the baking sheet. Sadly, his limited knowledge of physics did not enable him to realize it was too late for the pie.

The sheet tilted just enough to send the pie in a beautiful rotating arc across the short distance between Luke's and Nicole's bodies, landing on what would have been Nicole's lap were she not standing.

The elegance of the complex physics required to send the pie from Luke's forward motion through the arc, hitting her with perfect accuracy, was lost on Nicole as she gasped in shock. What was not lost on Nicole was the fact that the pie landed on her skirt pie side down. The beauty of the physics was soon replaced by the perfect color coordination of the dark purple of the berries and the whipped-cream color of the suede.

If Nicole had any artistic sense, she might have appreciated the paintbrush-like striations that the pie made as it slid down her skirt, or perhaps the splotches of purple and berry that landed in giant glops on her Manolo Blahniks, irreversibly staining them, the permanence of the stain only enhanced by the oven-fresh warmth of the berries themselves. Unfortunately for Nicole, who bore more than a passing resemblance to a certain Paris Geller when it came to ambition, she'd blown off art appreciation in favor of doing legal research for extra credit.

Luke, frozen in place from mortification, could do nothing at first except utter a string of curse words the like of which Nicole had never heard from him when they were dating. Eventually coming to his senses, he began impotently brushing at her skirt trying to scrape the bulk of the berries off before they landed on her shoes as well, apologizing the whole time.

"Just get away!" Nicole angrily spread her hands between him and her skirt. "Don't touch anything!" she demanded, her normally tense body becoming as stiff as titanium.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," was all Luke could say as Nicole kicked berries halfway across the diner. The harsh ring of the diner phone gave Luke the opportunity to turn away from the haute couture devastation.

"Luke's!" he practically shouted into the phone. Enraged, Nicole burned holes in the back of his head before going to the curtain and stomping up the stairs to Luke's apartment, dropping more sugary pie filling and crust bits as she went.

"Hi Luke," said Lorelai innocently.

"Where were you! You were supposed to come here!" he charged her fiercely, stepping into the kitchen in case Nicole came out of the bathroom.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" she said, surprised at his anger. "I was giving you a moment with Nicole. I'm on my way right now."

"I baked you a PIE!" he accused, his chest heaving as he tried to breathe.

"Pie is good," she replied in a soothing voice. "I love pie."

"I know you love pie! That's why I baked you one, and now it's ruined! Completely ruined!" He banged his head on the kitchen wall repeatedly.

"Luke, honey, it's just a pie. You can make another, right? If you can't, then that's alright too. Take a deep breath and tell me what happened."

Upon exhaling, he wrapped his free arm over the arm holding the phone. Slightly calmer, he sighed, "I dropped it."

"That's OK; did you clean it up?" she consoled.

"It can't be cleaned up; it fell on Nicole."

"It fell on N-Nicole?" she stuttered as she jerked to a stop. "Just a small splatter, right? A few drops?"

"The whole pie," he groaned, reliving the whole excruciating event in slow motion.

"You threw a pie at Nicole? Like at the circus?" Lorelai was having a hard time getting the image out of the mind and coughed away the laughter threatening to destroy her fledgling relationship with Luke.

"Are you trying to be funny?" he growled.

"No, never," she replied insincerely before realizing the potential disaster that a pie could bring to Nicole's stunning outfit. "Luke, think carefully. What about the shoes? How are her shoes?"

"How are her shoes? They've got pie on them, like the skirt!"

Lorelai gasped. _Those beautiful Manolos. What a tragedy._ "Nicole needs me. I'll be there in a moment!" She began running as she flipped her phone closed, ending the call.

"How are her shoes? Nicole needs her? What the hell is going on?" he muttered as he went back into the dining area and hung up the phone. Lifting his head, he saw Nicole standing next to the curtain, still dripping boysenberry juice on the floor.

"The apartment door is locked," she hissed. "You never gave me a key."

"Just use the bathroom over there. I don't want pie filling tracked all over the apartment," he grumbled as he began scooping pie off the floor, completely missing her implication that she should be allowed to use her boyfriend's apartment. She stomped into the restaurant's bathroom.

As Lorelai dashed into the diner, Luke asked her to flip the sign to Closed so he could clean up before customers came in for lunch.

"Where is she?" Lorelai asked, breathless, ignoring his request.

"In the bathroom," he grumbled as he stepped gingerly over the pie bits to flip the Closed sign himself and lock the door.

Nicole was using wet paper towels to pat at her blouse, unsuccessful in her attempt to remove the pie filling stains that she accidentally put there herself when she first tried cleaning off her skirt.

"The pie … On my skirt … Tried to clean it, and it's now on my blouse as well. Everything is ruined!" she sobbed despondently.

"The shoes?" asked Lorelai, unwilling to look down below the sink where Nicole stood.

"Pie. Shoes. Sticky. Manolos," gurgled Nicole, wiping the tears from her eyes and leaving purple streaks like warpaint behind.

"I know, honey. He doesn't understand the power of Manolos. No man does," consoled Lorelai as she patted a clean spot on Nicole's shoulder, being careful to not touch anything purple.

Unable to resist Nicole's sobs any longer, Lorelai bent down and began removing pie filling from the Manolos. "Hmm, boysenberry. My favorite," she said, trying to distract Nicole from the ruined clothes.

Nicole's cheek color turned shockingly close to the purple stripes her cleaning efforts had left on her face when she realized that Lorelai was the intended recipient of Luke's pie. Pushing her away, she stormed into the diner where Luke had just finished sweeping up the pie fragments.

"Boysenberry! Manolos!" were the only words she uttered before grabbing her purse and running out of the diner, jiggling the handle in frustration before she managed to unlock the door. Stupefied, Luke walked to the door without saying a word and locked it again to finish the cleanup.

Lorelai peeked out of the bathroom before exiting in case Nicole and Luke were still talking. Seeing only Luke mopping the floor, she went over to him and patted him on the shoulder.

"That was really bad, Luke," she said.

"It should have been you," he grumbled. "Not Nicole. I don't even know why she came."

"You wanted to hit me with a pie?" she deadpanned as she wiped bits of pie off the stools near where Nicole stood.

He glared at her. "Now I do."

"I'm sorry," she said, doing a poor job of repressing a smile. "You still can if you like. We can make it a town event, maybe sell tickets."

His next glare was less penetrating and his shoulders had begun to relax. "Whipped cream too?"

"Ala mode if you want." She grinned as she saw a spark of mirth in his eyes.

"Clown wig?" he continued.

"I'll even wet my hair and let it naturally frizz."

"What are Manolos anyway?" he asked, resting on his mop handle for a moment.

"The nearest thing to heaven a woman's feet can experience."

"Well, I guess I'd better offer to replace them," he sighed. "I did drop the pie."

"Luke, do you even know how much a pair of Manolos cost? Those are thousand dollar shoes."

"She wore a pair of thousand dollar shoes in a diner? How does one pair of shoes even cost a thousand dollars? My shoes don't even cost a hundred dollars."

"Hold it right there, bucko – you're treading on dangerous ground. I need my pretty shoes. You are not allowed to rant on shoes," she cautioned, pressing two fingers to his mouth to make him shut up. "Never question the shoes, got it?"

He nodded reluctantly as her touch tempted him to kiss her fingers, which would lead to the slippery slope of kissing other parts of her, and with a little luck, her kissing parts of him as well. This was still impossible due to the Nicole thing, maybe even further away than ever after the pie incident, so he pushed the desire and her fingers aside, reminding her gruffly, "Sometimes the rant cannot be denied, don't forget that." She smiled her agreement.

Before the moment could fall any further into dangerous territory, Taylor Doose saved the day with his incessant tapping at the door of the diner.

There was no way to hide from Taylor like they'd once done as they were tucked intimately behind the counter when choosing paint. Luke rolled his eyes in annoyance before opening the door.

"Whaddya want, Taylor?" he growled.

Taylor, unfazed, remained on the doorstep.

"Out with it! I haven't got all day," continued Luke glowering at this interruption.

"I'm sorry," Taylor said. "Sorry about the window thing."

"Taylor! What brought this on?" asked Lorelai, incredulous that Taylor Doose would ever admit to an error.

"My lawyers advised it. They say the judge will be more lenient if I apologize. Even better if you're willing to accept my apology." Taylor looked as remorseful as anyone had ever seen him look.

"What happened to the shelves and stuff?" continued Lorelai, as it seemed that Luke was going to stand there silent forever.

"Oh, I don't know, Lorelai," he said impatiently, "Maybe they dumped it somewhere. It's been weeks. Can you please let me talk to Luke in peace?"

Lorelai recognized that she wasn't helping Luke by staying. He needed to work this out with Taylor by himself. Besides, she was grateful for even the very little information Taylor had tossed to her about the likely location of Luke's things. She now knew where to start.

Leaning over so only Luke could hear, Lorelai took him by the elbow and whispered, "You might want to cut him a little slack, Luke. He's got his punishment coming from the court. But if you decide otherwise, I'm ready to dress like a cat burglar and do whatever it takes to get revenge."

He smiled at her, knowing that if they did go for the cat burglar revenge, she'd show up in cat ears, whiskers and a long tail. It was just her way. He nodded, waving goodbye as she left, before turning to Taylor.

"OK, Taylor, but this is the last time. You're not banned any more, but I also want you to not appeal any decision the judge makes in your case. Take your punishment like a man," insisted Luke.

"Deal," agreed Taylor, stepping down to go back to his store. A step or two away, he turned back and asked cautiously, "Do you have some paperwork that Nicole Leahy is finalizing for you?"

"Yeah," he replied with equal caution.

"What's it about?" Taylor was inveterately nosy.

"None of your business," Luke growled.

"Alright, no harm in asking, I always say. Um, Nicole was kind of upset when she came into Doose's this afternoon, and she said something you probably ought to hear."

"She stormed into my meeting, looking awful I might add, swearing, 'He wants those papers? Well, he can just wait until hell freezes over before he gets them.' I think you might want to do something about that," Taylor advised.

"Shit," cursed Luke silently. Sometimes it seemed like everything in his life happened faster than he could process it. Now the one damn time he wanted something to happen fast, it looked like he was never going to get it.

* * *

A pair of cats screeched and hissed as they fought over the few mice still left at the Stars Hollow dump. After spending two hours creating the perfect junk yard outfit, Lorelai had arrived to search for Luke's memorabilia. Gloves, boots and her favorite cowgirl hat protected her from the worst of the dangers. Giving the cats a wide berth, she circled the dump slowly, looking for that characteristic blue-green of the shelves that had once decorated Luke's Diner.

* * *

"Hi Mom."

"Hi, kitten."

"Isn't that what Sookie calls us?" asked Rory.

"Yes, but it was true today. I was really catty today, and ended my day in the company of cats."

"Miaow. Spill."

"Remember Luke?"

"Something is familiar about that name. I smell burgers when I hear it. How's the love life? Any progress since your last phone call?"

"No," pouted Lorelai. "There's still this mysterious thing about Nicole that Luke hasn't explained yet. I did run into her today, though."

Lorelai launched into her story of Nicole, Andrew, the Manolos and the pie. Tears were nearly shed by the girls over the certain loss of the Manolos, even if they did belong to Nicole and not them.

"What do you think the connection with Nicole is, Mom?"

"There's something about papers, so I'm guessing she's written some contracts for him about the diner, but she won't release them because she's pissed that he broke up with her."

"Isn't that like, illegal?"

"I dunno. Luke's really unhappy about it and he doesn't want to move forward with us until it's resolved. I could just scream."

"Or miaow?" laughed Rory, still concerned that Luke and her mother weren't connecting as they should be.

"Don't remind me. Those cats at the dump today scared me. Guess what I found there?"

"Your sanity? Common sense? Bono?"

"Three boards from Luke's shelves, and even bigger – the dancing pork chop."

"I lost my head over a good chop…" began Rory.

"… You should too!" finished her mother.

"I think he's really going to appreciate you looking for his stuff. He was really upset about losing it," said Rory. "Sounds like you're working really hard to find it, too."

"I've been to the dump twice today already. Some of the stuff is broken, but I'm cleaning up what I can. One of Tom's guys is going to put the boards back into shelves when I've found enough."

"Aw, Mom, you're building Luke a chuppah! That's so sweet."

Lorelai's heart beat faster at that thought. The chuppah kept coming up in her mind ever since the possibility of having a romantic relationship with Luke became real. She often went to the chuppah and tried to imagine how he made it, how many hours he spent thinking of her while he carved and assembled the pieces, and it slowly became real to her what he must have felt during that time. How deeply he cared for her even then.

Lorelai scoffed at Rory's words. "I'm talking about a dancing pork chop. He made me a chuppah! Those two things aren't comparable at all."

"No, Mom, you're talking about giving Luke back memories that he otherwise won't ever see again. When I see how much the chuppah means to you now, it's very much the same thing. Now, I have a catfight story too. You remember Paris? Well, she and Janet …"

* * *

**A/N:** The pie was hot, for sure, but Nicole's lovely suede leather skirt and the shoes kept her from getting burned. I knew you were concerned about that.

**A/N:** To you who talked me down off the proverbial ledge, but want to remain anonymous, thank you.


	7. Secrets and Stilettos

LFI7 Secrets and stilettos

Activities at the Inn picked up speed as Tom finished with the removal of the timbers that had been weakened over the years by termites, leaks in the roof and simple neglect. Lorelai walked through the shell of the building in the early evening, after Tom's crew had stopped for the day, and felt strong. Strong and scared both at the same time, it felt sometimes as if she were a ping-pong ball bouncing between the two extremes. She was strong because her inn, the vision that she has for it, is clear and calls to her every day. Scared because of the money, but even more than the money, she was also scared of her vision; too many visionaries had crashed and burned on dreams they were unable to make real.

Lorelai now knows more about wood than she ever imagined was possible. Every termite hole in the Dragonfly building, every bit of dry rot, even though she couldn't understand how dry wood could rot, and every cracked beam stood in the way of her dream and cost money. More money than she ever imagined.

Luke's wooden shelves were now also familiar to her. Each board that she found brought back memories of her and Rory sitting in the diner making up stories about the items on the shelves; each story grew more fantastic until Luke would come by and tell them the true story, often with hilarious details about Taylor or Louie, or some other townie known to the girls.

Her days took on a new rhythm; mornings she'd stop by the diner, most often for coffee to go, because she had neither the funds to buy many meals at any restaurant nor the gumption to tell Luke that fact. Knowing that every penny she saved was going to help with the Dragonfly, she almost always had an excuse for not staying for breakfast. The reason for not staying was money, of course; she did not feel comfortable taking so much food from him either on a tab, because she had no foreseeable income, or for free, because, well just because.

Instead she preserved her pride by inventing a daily Dragonfly meeting with Sookie, knowing full well that Sookie threw away more food on a daily basis than even Lorelai could eat. Those meetings became the cornerstone of their planning, helping the two women to reach agreement on many of the design decisions they were constantly called upon to make.

Lorelai followed her breakfast meeting with an hour or two at the dump, searching for Luke's things. Most of the rest of her day was spent at the Dragonfly, 'helping' Tom, at least until he threw her out for either changing her mind too often or getting dangerously close to power tools. It was then back to the dump until she collapsed exhausted at home, interspersed with visits to the diner to look at her pretty not-quite-yet boyfriend.

* * *

"Luke."

"Tom."

The natural banter between the two men flowed as smoothly as ever. At almost twenty years older, Tom could have been Luke's father had he and his wife kept a baby-making schedule closer to Lorelai's. Instead, Tom and Luke were friends. Manly friends, which meant that the words just exchanged between them covered a relationship update that would have taken Sookie and Lorelai all afternoon to accomplish.

"How's the Dragonfly?" asked Luke, pretending to want to chat. He really wanted to find out where Lorelai was spending her time, since she was clearly not spending it at the diner, like she did just after Rory left. He missed her.

"You know, pays the bills," Tom replied. "Lots of dry rot."

"Ah yeah, dry rot's a bitch," commiserated Luke. "Is Lorelai driving you crazy?" he probed.

Tom harrumphed and gave his classic straight-line grin. "Yeah, I pretty much have to throw her off the property once or twice a day. Can't let her get too close to the power tools. You know she once decorated a hammer with pink feathers?"

Luke chuckled. "Hadn't heard that one yet. Kinda worries me, her having a hammer in her hands."

"Eh, she gave it to Rory for the day she worked on Rebuilding Together. Haven't seen you out there in a while," Tom noted, handing over the money for his lunch.

"What can I say?" joked Luke. "All my feathered hammers are in the laundry."

Tom snorted as he departed, leaving Luke to muse over Lorelai's absence. He remembered several times in the past when Lorelai was unusually absent from the diner, but the thought of those occasions bothered him. They all happened when Lorelai started dating someone new.

His musings stopped when he noticed Lorelai coming to the diner. _She looks like she's getting tanned or something, which is weird because her skin doesn't tan, it freckles._ Pushing the fantasies of dirty connect the freckles games aside, he prepared himself for her entry by acting as if he hadn't noticed her at all.

"Hey," he tried to speak in a casual tone, but her smile ignited his smile and they ended up exactly where they both wanted to be: grinning stupidly at each other.

Coming to his senses, he asked, "What happened to you? You're covered in dust."

"Hello Lorelai, you're looking lovely today," she mocked. "How are you this fine day?"

"You're looking a little like Pig Pen," he retorted. "Seriously, is it that messy at the Dragonfly?"

"You charmer," she replied with a giggle. No need to tell him that she'd been at the dump, finding more of his things from Taylor's diner destruction. One nice shelf had been rebuilt by Tom's guys and she was joined on occasion by Andrew, Gypsy and other townies, which made the work easier.

"If you want, you can go upstairs and rinse off the topsoil before I fix your lunch," offered Luke.

"Not eating, sorry, I just ate at Sookie's. She locked me in until I'd eaten half a chicken." As much as she would love a burger, she knew she'd appreciate being able to afford heat this winter much more. She'd had enough of those tradeoffs when she lived in the potting shed.

"OK, then, just coffee. You know you're welcome to stay for a while if you can manage to find a seat." He looked around at the diner, empty except for her at this low point in the middle of the afternoon. Maybe she'd open up about this mysterious life that he knew nothing about before he let himself irrationally obsess about the worst possible reasons.

"Thanks, I'd better take it to go. Lots to do, you know, the Dragonfly and all," she hedged.

"Ah. Tom was just here. Told me you'd been thrown out for the rest of the day."

"Ah." _Busted. He knows I'm doing something more than the Dragonfly._

Lorelai shifted nervously on the stool as she looked at Luke. His expression told her that no bit would work. Luke Danes was not as easy to distract as Taylor Doose.

"Luke, can I ask you a favor?" she asked hesitantly.

"Always," he replied, sliding her coffee across the counter.

"Can you trust me on this for a little while?"

Luke didn't like the sound of this, but at least he could deduce that she wouldn't be hiding a new boyfriend 'for a little while.' Still, not knowing what was going on felt pretty uncomfortable.

"You have a secret?" he asked bluntly.

"I have lots of secrets, and I'm never going to tell you most of them. I might be willing to give up some of my tips on walking in high heels."

"Lorelai, I mean now. You're covered in dust that's not from the Dragonfly." Exasperation was building.

"It's just something that I'm not quite ready to share with you yet, but it's good, I promise."

"Do you remember the last time you couldn't 'share' something with me? You told me I'd like it then, but I didn't." Her engagement to Max was one memory he'd prefer to forget completely. He snapped his cleaning cloth on the edge of the counter in an effort to forget the bad memories.

Lorelai began to get frustrated with Luke as well. "You know, you've been asking me to trust you for a little while. How do you think I feel about that, not knowing what's happening, and it doesn't make any sense to me why we even have to wait."

"Half a popsicle sucks, doesn't it?" he said glumly. "Sorry I can't tell you yet." He'd been thinking all day, but hadn't come up with a way to get the divorce paper finished.

"Yeah, it does. I'm a whole popsicle kind of girl."

Luke wiped the counter while Lorelai stared into her coffee.

"I don't really like popsicles at all," he said finally.

"Me neither," she admitted. "Coffee is good, though."

Luke sighed. They weren't going to get any further with this today.

"I have to go shower before the town meeting tonight. We're sorting out the mail mix-up, and I got the Forrester's mail. Are you going?" she asked, wishing she had a mocking companion.

"Nah, tourists have been crawling all over the place today. I expect a crowd tonight." He paused. "You got Dean's mail? Can you maybe take the mail that's been coming here?"

"Sure. Whose mail did you get?"

"Kirk's," he said with a grimace. "Don't ask," he warned before she had a chance to ask about Kirk's mail habits.

"Sure, I'll pick it up before the meeting. I promise to be clean and not trail dust throughout the diner." She smiled contritely, wishing they were parting on a happier note.

She exited the diner, wondering how she could give Luke more confidence about her secret search for his diner things. He would just have to wait.

As she passed the last window of the diner, she changed her mind. Luke shouldn't have to wait. _I'm doing this to make him happy! I don't want him to feel bad about it before he gets it._

She turned and ran back into the diner, slamming herself into his body and enveloping him in a big hug.

"Thanks for letting me have my secret," she blurted fervidly. "Your trust is a gift. Better than a popsicle any day."

He caught her up, lifting her off the ground slightly as his worry abated. "Thank you too," he ground out, letting himself enjoy the scent and feel of Lorelai in his arms. "I hate secrets."

"Soon, though, we can let both our secrets go, right?"

"Soon," he agreed, wishing he had more control over his situation.

* * *

A few hours, one nap, four toaster strudel bought with a coupon and a pot of coffee later, Lorelai made her way back to the diner. Luke's prediction about tourists had come true and he was flooded with customers.

He protectively wrapped an arm around her back and guided her to a stool at the counter, grumbling under his breath, "I swear, if one more person asks 'when do they turn the leaves all those pretty colors' I'm going to scream."

Lorelai giggled and patted his arm. "So there really are stupid questions!" she chortled.

"That ship sailed months ago, Lorelai," he growled good-naturedly.

"Be kind, Luke, those leaf-peepers are gonna be paying off my tab at the diner in a few months.

"Speaking of which," he said as he hurriedly cleared a stack of plates from the counter, "You haven't been eating here much lately. Are you sure your finances are OK?"

"Oh yeah," she lied blithely, hoping he wouldn't detect the truth. "Rory's school supplies left me a little dry this month, but it will even out next month."

He crooked his head and raised an eyebrow at that comment. No income this month, no income next month. Even Kirk could do this kind of arithmetic.

"Wait just a second," he said as he made a round with drinks. "I've got a proposition for you."

"Luke, honey, I'm open to a side job, but I'm not quite that far yet," she teased, batting her eyes as he sped by.

"I meant a business proposition!" he growled, distracted by a new influx of diners.

"See, that's not exactly helping your case." She grinned even broader at him, waiting for the dirty meaning of his answer to sink in, which he did as he arrived back at the window to the kitchen, where he stood and banged his head multiple times against the frame. He turned his head and smiled ruefully at her. "Sorry."

Plating a piece of apology pie for her, he stopped across the counter from where she sat and leaned on the counter, putting his head close to hers. She leaned in, enjoying this moment, intimate even in a crowded restaurant.

"What I meant," he said, his voice darkening as he saw the loving warmth in her eyes, "Is that you come here and eat whatever you like as you build your inn. Later when you're up and running, I'll come to the restaurant and eat whatever I like. Business to business. Deal?"

"Deal," she agreed, in spite of the fact that Luke Danes would never be able to out-eat her in a million years. "Who else can I negotiate with like this?"

"Like this? Nobody." His fingertips touched hers just enough to make contact, her fingers opening enough to interlace with his. "Don't you go making any sweetheart deals with Taylor or Kirk, got it?"

"So who else are you making deals like this with? Miss Patty? Taylor?" she smirked.

"Eat your pie and scram," he tapped her hand affectionately with his fingertips. "You're going to be late. Kirk's mail is in the paper bag behind the curtain." He dove back into the crowd of customers.

Swallowing her pie nearly whole, she stepped behind the curtain to find that unlike the Forrester's half-dozen pieces of mail, Kirk had dozens of magazines, catalogs and mysteriously plain brown envelopes. She shuddered at the thought of what might be in the envelopes and heaved the overfull bag into her arms before leaving the diner without seeing Luke again, idly wondering if he'd been swallowed whole by some carnivorous tourist.

* * *

"Oh my God! This is so much fun! No wonder Taylor never lets anyone else bang his gavel," laughed Miss Patty as she opened the meeting after Lorelai's obligatory "Dirty!" comment.

"As you know," began Patty, "Taylor isn't here, because he's paying his $2000 fine and setting up his six month probation, so I've canceled all of his agenda points."

"Six months probaltion? Was that all he got?" complained Gypsy. "What happened?"

Patty replied, "Luke spoke with the judge and asked him to be lenient." Several people gasped at the notion of Luke forgiving Taylor so easily.

"I thought he was going to have the judge throw the book at him!" pondered Babette.

Hooting and hollering accompanied the applause from the happy townies as Patty announced the meeting was over. "I'm going to do some more banging, and then we can sort out our mail." She banged happily for a while longer, until Gypsy came by and snatched the gavel out of her hands, starting a bickering match.

After chatting with various neighbors, Lorelai wandered over to Dean, Lindsay, Clara and their mother. "Here's the mail I've gotten," she said. "Looks like the wedding responses are still flowing in."

Dean smiled weakly at her as he agreed. Lindsay put her left hand proprietarily on his forearm, pulling him back slightly as his mother responded to Lorelai's comment. "Saturday's the big day," she said proudly. "Thanks for the mail." With a stern look at Dean, they walked away, a slightly embarrassed Dean looking back with a shrug as they departed.

Mrs. Lanahan had Luke's mail and Gypsy had Lorelai's, so once she had both sets in her hands, Lorelai informed Kirk that his mail was just outside the door, where she'd dropped it when it became too heavy to carry.

Tossing her own bills into her purse, Lorelai stacked Luke's mail neatly by tapping the bottoms on the palm of her hand until they all lined up. One envelope was taller and squarer than the rest of Luke's correspondence. It was also pinker and lots more perfumed. The handwritten word "Leahy" in the upper left corner ended any rationalization that Lorelai could make about maiden aunts or cousin Franny writing with the latest news of her parrot Petey.

_Was Nicole never going to let go of him? What could a woman possibly want with a guy who broke up with her?_ Lorelai's relationships never ended with one party hanging on, with the exception of Max after she broke up with him the first time.

The bad angel on Lorelai's shoulder was whipping her into a jealous mood, but she fortunately gave the bad angel the heave-ho before she reached the diner. She smiled in greeting as she entered the diner which had settled into its evening round of a few quiet customers.

"Hey," she said as he retreated into the kitchen, coming out again a few moments later with a burger he'd kept warm for her since he'd cooked it when he saw the people streaming out of Patty's a little while earlier.

He put his hand on her shoulder as he set the food down, unwilling to skip any convenient opportunity to touch her. "That was fast," he commented.

"Yeah, no Taylor, so less hot air than normal," she said while chewing a large bite of burger. "Ooh, that's great," she moaned, not letting on if she meant his touch or his food.

Luke rubbed her shoulder blade for a moment, then collected money from a couple of the customers who were leaving before returning to sit with her.

Her burger had been inhaled in those few minutes and Lorelai was daintily patting her mouth with a paper napkin, a picture of refinement until she was surprised by a small burp. "Oops," she giggled as Luke shook his head at her.

"I can dress you up…" he began, and she finished, "… but you haven't taken me out anywhere yet."

The pain on Luke's face twisted a small knife in Lorelai's heart.

"Lorelai, you do know this is not me, right? As soon as Nicole's firm delivers those papers, it's really over." He bowed his head in frustration. "It's been over for me for a while. I just need her to let go."

The knife took a turn and found untouched nerves in another place in her heart.

"You've got mail," she sing-songed sympathetically as she slid his mail over to him.

Luke stared blankly at the pink envelope as if he thought it would burn him when he touched it.

"Shit."

"No, it smells like SHI-anel," she quipped soberly.

She watched him a few moments longer before it occurred to her that he might want to read it alone. Gathering her things, she glanced around her nervously, then up at him before saying, "I think I'd better go."

Lost in thought, Luke said nothing. Lorelai stalled for a moment, hoping to see some sort of reaction. Still nothing, so she turned to go.

"Stay." His hand reached out for hers as quickly as the words came out of his mouth.

"No Luke, you need time to process. Alone time," she insisted sadly.

"That's not what I need. I need this to be over, but somehow, I don't think a handwritten envelope stinking of perfume is going to have the answer I want inside."

Lorelai retook her seat, never letting go of his hand. "Then rip the Band-Aid off, Luke. Find out fast. Get it over with. I'm here." She squeezed his hand hard, trying to make a connection with the Luke inside his hard shell, finally resting her hand on his wrist.

He looked at her doubtfully, but took heart at her optimistic smile and ripped the envelope open as fast as he could. It didn't take long to figure out he had been right about the contents.

Reading it a second time, he knitted his eyebrows together in confusion. "She forgives me for the shoes and wants to stay together. Forgives me for the shoes? What the hell is she talking about?"

"The Manolos, Luke. You threw a pie on the Manolos."

His continued blank look forced Lorelai to choke down laughter.

"You must be the most amazing boyfriend. If a girl can forgive a pie on the Manolos, it's only because the guy is something really wonderful. The Luke I know IS that wonderful, and you know what? You can throw a pie on my Manolos anytime."

He hung his head and closed his eyes tightly, a choking sound coming from the back of his throat. "Now THAT sounded dirty to me." He said as his voice cracked and the laughter poured out.

Lorelai joined in, happy for the release of tension.

"Seriously, though, these shoes are loved that much? More than the average boyfriend?" he asked.

"Think about it this way, Luke, the heels may be long, but they're teeny-tiny thin things. A girl needs more than just length, you know," she blurted before burying her face on her arm as the tears of laughter flowed.

"Well, I think I can compete with stilettos," he decided, sending Lorelai into new peals of laughter.

"OK, enough of this. I've got to get this place cleaned up. I'll figure out what to do tomorrow," Luke said, wiping his own moist eyes.

"Be-cahse tomorrow is ahnother day, Rhett. Tomorrow is another day." She rubbed his bicep in a friendly way and gathered her things to go for real this time.

Luke pulled her to him for a long, soothing hug. Ruffling her hair as he let her go, he said, "Thanks. It was better that you stayed."

"Why don't you come over tomorrow evening?" she offered impulsively as she stepped outside, Luke hanging onto the door. "We can take a break from work and secrets and letters and have a movie night."

"You got it. See you for breakfast?" he asked.

"Night, Luke."

* * *

**A/N:** At this point I'm pretty much pulling plot points from the season and inserting them into my story where they fit best. Chronological order? Not my thing at the moment.


	8. Showdown

LFI 8 Showdown

"Mom! Terrance had green tea out his nose when I repeated that 'a girl needs more than length' comment," laughed Rory. That was so dirty!"

"Wait until I tell you how Luke responded," began Lorelai before she was screeched at by her daughter and threatened with hanging up if she didn't keep it to PG-levels.

"What's going on in Stars Hollow before I get home this weekend?" asked Rory.

"We've almost got Luke's shelf ready," said Lorelai proudly, "Andrew and Gypsy helped a couple of days, too, and we have photos. It shouldn't be too much longer until we can put it into the diner as a surprise. I just have to think of some way to get him out of the diner for a few hours so we can get it built."

"How about an invitation to a classic Lorelai Gilmore date?" offered Rory.

Lorelai sighed. "No dating yet."

"You ought to be ready when the time comes, though. You know how Luke has a slow burn to start, but has a big finish. Remember when he and Taylor argued over Thanksgiving decorations. He started out quiet, but ended up exploding over the Pilgrim salt and pepper shakers?"

"I remember him warning me not to sit on any cold benches!" retorted Lorelai. "I still can't believe he was paying attention."

"Face it, Mom, Luke is always paying attention. You are so on his radar." Rory pondered a moment before continuing. "We know what the classic Luke Danes date is,"

"Juice bar and batting cages!" interrupted Lorelai with a grin.

"But what is the classic Lorelai Gilmore date?" finished Rory.

"Huh," grunted Lorelai. "If it hadn't been for the company, the Bowie concert with Peyton Sanders."

"Hello Mom? Reality calling. To live the millionaire lifestyle, you'll have to live with a millionaire. Not exactly your thing."

"If Peyton was typical, I'm better off with the batting cages. The batting cages are better conversationalists."

"Mom, if I ever find someone who loves me as much as Luke loves you, I won't let him go. Ever," said Rory confidently. "But you're not answering my question – what is your perfect date?"

"I don't know," said Lorelai. "Most guys try to do something romantic with the hopes of getting me into bed. I never actually had to plan a date."

"You mean they take you out for a giant dinner, followed by a movie with snacks, ending up with ice cream hoping to close the deal?"

"That's pretty much the way most of my dates go," conceded Lorelai.

"I so didn't need to know how many guys think my mother puts out for food," groaned Rory.

"It's not that bad," insisted her mother. "Not all guys were creeps. Max would read romantic stuff to me, Christopher would open a bottle of tequila …" Lorelai's face fell. "Oh my god, I have the morals of an alley cat!" She buried her head in the pillow of the sofa.

"Mom. Mom! Get a hold of yourself! You aren't that bad, you just like it when the guy does romantic things. I mean, honestly, you never really dated much. A guy had to chase after you pretty hard before you'd start dating him."

"But what if the 'Feed me, I'm yours' is true? This is much worse than even playing '1,2,3 he's yours.' I'm selling myself for the next meal."

"Yo! Mom, no you don't. Kill the drama. I've got drama enough living with Paris."

"But what about Luke? Luke feeds me all the time. It's a wonder I haven't jumped him in the storeroom yet. What is the poor guy going to do when we're out on a date and his defenses are down? He's gonna be toast when I've got my clutches on him. That brings new meaning to the word man-eater."

"I think Luke can handle himself around you, Mom."

"Maybe it's his complaining about my eating habits that have kept me from taking him right in the middle of the diner surrounded by impressionable youngsters all these years. That's the one thing all the guys I've dated and jumped into bed with had in common – they were amazed by my eating habits. Luke will be immune – he already knows my eating habits. They annoy him, not amaze him."

Rory face palmed, beginning to worry about Luke's safety. Or his sanity for wanting to date her mother.

"Think about Luke, Mom. Just Luke. You and Luke on a date. What is going to make that date an incredibly wonderful experience?"

Lorelai grinned a dirty thought.

"I can hear that smile, Mom, and Eww. I mean a date with Luke that doesn't end in sex. Or before the sex. Just tell me what is your pre-sex fantasy of a date with Luke."

Lorelai did take a moment to think this time. "Planning a date is hard!" she whined, drawing her knees up to her chest as she sat on the sofa.

Slowly the ideas began to take shape. "Luke is special," she began. "We had some of our best times when we were just sitting and talking, just being us, not 'Dating Lorelai' and 'Dating Luke,' but when we're just being ourselves, relaxed, that's when he opens up and shows what's really in his heart. That's the Luke I like best."

"That sounds like a great date, Mom," said Rory quietly, wondering if it would ever happen to her. "I'd love dates like that."

"Yeah," she agreed, wondering if she should go to the diner tonight and see if she could spark some of that mood as Luke closed up. Fatigue made her decide to wait until the next day.

"I'll see you at Friday Night Dinner?" asked Rory.

"Sure, sweets, don't want to miss a couple of hours with you. You're staying this weekend?"

"Yeah, I'll get those books Andrew's gotten in for me and get a good night's sleep with no roommates around."

"OK, see you then. Love you hon."

"Love you Mom. See you Friday."

* * *

Upon entering the diner, Lorelai noticed Andrew, Gypsy and Mayor Harry sitting at a table, waiting for their meeting to start. She waved at them, but walked over to the kitchen to say hello to Luke before sitting down.

"Hi Luke, it's me," she called as she stood at the kitchen doorway.

"Hey, Lorelai," he replied, wiping his hands on a kitchen towel and coming to the doorway. "I knew it was you, by the way."

"How? How could you tell it was me? It must be a magic bell, which always has a special sound just to let you know I've arrived!" She tugged the loose end of the towel and pulled it toward her, getting Luke to come close enough so she could discreetly touch his arm.

He leaned into the touch, bracing his shoulder against the doorframe, his smile turning a little naughty. "Or it could be that you open the door weird and always give it a little extra shake, which causes the bell to make a clacking sound. No one else does that, just you."

"I think magic is a better reason. Let's go with that."

"That would be a good option, if a person were crazy."

"Since you're always telling me I'm crazy, you must agree – it's magic bells."

Giving her a wry look, he asked, "You here for breakfast? Got blueberry pancakes today."

"I'm here for a hot date with a cute guy," she flirted.

He grinned at her obvious flirt. "I'm too busy – big crowd out there," he noted.

"Didn't mean you," she teased, wrinkling her nose at him when he looked surprised and none too pleased. "Blueberry pancakes and bacon would be perfect." She turned and with a jaunt in her step meant just for him, she left him standing there, mouth agape. A timer beeping in the kitchen causing Luke to curse and go back inside the kitchen before he had a chance to find out who she was seeing.

Lorelai joined Harry, Andrew and Gypsy, who had already discussed several ideas for the new shelf on Luke's wall, finally deciding to put the shelves around the painted board and using the board for a Stars Hollow memory board.

"We need to find pictures of the diner when it was a hardware store," said Andrew. "Even better if Luke's parents are in the photos."

Harry spoke with all the mayoral authority he could create. "The Stars Hollow Gazette has archives and we can make some copies from there. I think my wife has a picture of Luke's parents the day they opened the hardware store. I'll get my team on that."

"Ssh! Here he comes!" cautioned Gypsy when she noticed Luke coming in their direction with Lorelai's food.

"Blueberry pancakes and cholesterol sticks, extra crispy," he declared with his usual distaste for serving her unhealthy food. As he refreshed everyone's coffee, he looked at Lorelai and asked, "Which one?" as he looked with arched eyebrows at the two men sitting at her table.

She giggled as she replied, "1-2-3 is the rule." She pointed at Andrew, then Harry, counting "One, two," before pausing. "That makes you 3," she tittered.

Luke's face flushed red and he turned quickly on his heel, saying, "I should have known better," as he departed. After a few steps he recovered enough to put a Luke Danes twist on a jaunt in his step, namely stopping to pick up something off the floor so Lorelai had a fleeting glance at what Miss Patty called his best 'ass'-et. His glance back at her was just long enough for her to not mistake his meaning.

A pink tint on her cheeks as she turned back to her group went unnoticed by the men, but Gypsy's knowing glance told her she'd seen the whole interchange.

All was forgotten as the diner door opened and Luke's arch-nemesis entered with all the audacity and pretension that was Taylor Doose. He looked around nervously, then took a seat at a table off to the side of the diner.

Eventually Luke exited the kitchen to find out what the new arrival wanted. He stopped cold when he saw Taylor and the patrons froze in place, except for a few nervous individuals near Taylor who scattered as quickly as any townspeople on the streets of a western town when the sheriff confronted the black-hat guys in the middle of the street.

Luke stuffed his order pad in the front of his jeans, causing Lorelai and a couple of schoolmarm types to swoon slightly. Miss Patty fanned herself as she anticipated the outcome of this particular duel.

Taylor's hubris evaporated as he observed the man who was the cause of his felony conviction and subsequent fine. Luke's expression was grim, but betrayed nothing. Taylor shifted uncomfortably in his chair, wishing he'd sat closer to the door.

Lifting his cap and reseating it while throwing Lorelai an inconspicuous look, Luke assessed the state of the diner before approaching Taylor. Harry and Gypsy surreptitiously made a bet: Harry figured Taylor would land on the steps of the diner, while Gypsy believed he'd be thrown half-way across the street.

"Taylor." Luke stood before him, seeing the older man's discomfort.

The unnerved shopkeeper and ice cream magnate stood up and faced Luke. "Luke," he began, then looked around the diner, adding, "and all of you please listen, too." Taylor's relentless desire for center stage made even this moment one he felt the need to emcee.

Luke rolled his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Luke," said Taylor honestly. "I apologize for the damage I caused."

Luke nodded in reply, slightly surprised that Taylor would actually do the right thing.

Taylor took the chance to posture, trying to regain some of his lost reputation. "Everyone in this town should take notice of this …" but was interrupted by Luke.

"Taylor, new house rules," he said as he pointed his thumb at the sign. "Get to the point. Are you eating?"

"Bagel with cream cheese and black tea," he said, taking his seat again, grateful that the ordeal was over. Gypsy moaned in dissatisfaction that no OK Corral shootout had occurred as the rest of the diner burst into chattering groups of customers, analyzing every second of the interchange.

Her meeting finished and her plate clean, Lorelai picked up her dirty dishes and carried them to the kitchen entry. Luke approached the doorway again, a roguish grin on his face.

"Luke Danes!" she exclaimed as he came near. "You enjoyed that, didn't you?"

"Who wouldn't?" he replied. "A chance to watch Taylor nearly pee his pants? Yep, looks like another great day."

He took the dishes from her hands, his fingers gliding slowly over the back of her hand. Lorelai felt a tingle inside, fighting the urge to press her hand against his stomach just above the order pad he'd slid back into the waist of his jeans.

"What time tonight?" he asked in a low voice, the deep timbre of his voice resonating in Lorelai's center.

"Uh, um, I guess I'll be home after six sometime, so how about any time after seven?"

"Good, I'll being food," he said. "See you then."

Once outside the diner, Lorelai paused until she was confident that air was moving in and out of her lungs again. She'd been teasing Rory yesterday when she worried about jumping Luke in exchange for food, but now she knew she was in very great danger of jumping him before the burgers even made it to the plates.

* * *

"Seriously, though, Taylor was shaking in his boots! I thought Kirk would come to measure him for his coffin like an old-time undertaker in a western."

Lorelai laughed at Rory's reaction as she opened the door in response to Luke's knock. She smiled as he lifted the Luke's bags to show her what he'd brought.

"Luke's here, Rory," she said as she stepped aside just far enough for Luke to enter. She looked admiringly as he walked past her in well-worn jeans and a dark polo shirt open at the neck to reveal the golden hair on his chest. The combined scent of burgers and after-shave was a new date scent to her, awakening feelings that never appeared with non-burger-pushing men.

Luke leaned his head in close to Lorelai's as he passed by, saying, "Hello, Rory."

"Rory says 'Hi' back," said Lorelai after hanging up. "She'll be here this weekend after Friday Night Dinner."

"Send her by the diner before she leaves, I'll make sure she has Some food to take with her."

"I'll tell her tomorrow night. I still hate Friday Night Dinners, but it'll be the first time I've seen Rory since last week."

"So what are we doing? Movie?" asked Luke, still holding the Luke's bags. "The food quality isn't improving."

"Beer first," said Lorelai decisively as she led Luke to the kitchen, where he put the bags on the table. She opened two bottles, they toasted Rory's first week at Yale, then experienced an awkward silence.

Thinking back to her 'perfect Lorelai and Luke date,' she suddenly became nervous about the idea that had blossomed in her brain all afternoon as she worked.

_Maybe a movie is what we need to relax. Except, Luke has so little free time, it's a shame to plop him on the sofa and force him to watch a movie that I'm sure he thinks is mindless drivel. But just spending time, 'hanging out,' isn't so much his thing either. Arrgh! Date planning isn't easy! Especially when it's not even a date, Gilmore._

Knowing that he would choose a movie if she gave him a choice, she decided to not give him that choice. Maybe they could create one of their moments, like the chuppah moment. She smiled, knowing that she wasn't far away from giving him his chuppah. Everything had been agreed to this morning at the diner. All she needed to do was get him out of the diner at a time when the guys could mount the shelves and she'd take care of the rest.

"Lorelai."

Luke's voice startled her out of her musings. She looked at him confusedly. "What?"

"I've been trying, but it's just not working." Luke's expression was affectionate.

"What have you been trying?" she asked, thrown slightly off-kilter by the sweetness of his look and her thoughts from before.

"Mind reading." He flashed his most devastating smile for just a moment, before taking another draft of his beer. "I mean, it's been fun watching all these emotions flying across your face, but I haven't got a clue what's been going on inside this little skull the past few minutes." He tapped her head with one finger, then dropped his hand back to the counter that he was leaning against.

"I'm not really in a mood for a movie tonight," she said. "Actually I was thinking we could move my table and a couple of chairs from the front porch to the back porch and have dinner there. Would you mind?"

"No, but I know you like movies. I can do a movie."

"Please, I've done nothing but watch movies every night since Rory left. A little human companionship might be just the thing I need right now."

"OK, then. Want me to move the furniture?"

While Luke moved the porch furniture to a location that wouldn't be noticed by Babette, Lorelai scrambled around the house for those little romantic doo-dads that would make the evening more enjoyable. Candles for the table, a citronella candle burning off to the side so any mosquitos hanging around would be driven off, her best plates, pretty paper napkins.

"I'm honored," he said, "you don't often dust off the plates for me."

"I'm pulling out all the stops. You work so hard, you ought to be spoiled a little."

"You are spoiling me, Lorelai-style. You gave me the best Farrah plate you have. And a real fork for my salad. Nice."

"Well, I'm no Emily Gilmore, but I do try to keep up appearances."

Luke laughed heartily at that comment. "No one will ever mistake you for your mother, that's for sure. I like Lorelai-style better, anyway." They began eating, but shortly he continued speaking, asking, "Why do you still go to Friday dinners, anyway? Can't you just skip them? It's just Rory's thing now, isn't that what you told me?"

"Rory has so little time that my first thought was she can spend time with me when she's with Richard and Emily."

"But you miss your exclusive time with her, don't you? Can't you just drive down once or twice a week and visit, just the two of you?" He looked down at the ground, making sure he really wanted to say what he was about to say. "Or is there another reason to go to Hartford on Fridays?" There. It was out.

Lorelai's eyes darted to Luke's. _How did he figure out what she could hardly admit to herself?_ Sheepishly, she half-nodded and spread her hands wide, relinquishing her inclination to gloss over the topic. Suddenly the citronella candle on the floor at the edge of the porch was the most interesting flame in the universe.

Luke nudged her elbow with his own. "It's OK to want to have a better relationship with your parents, even if the chances are low."

Lorelai's look probed his, trying to understand how he could have figured that out. He smiled wisely, saying only, "Looks like I've got more mind reading skills than I thought."

She scoffed at that, retorting, "Or maybe you actually listened a few of the hundred million times I've talked to you about this. 'Cause you really don't have the mind reading thing down, when I think of how many times my coffee cup has sat empty between refills."

"Hey, I'm a mind reader, not Superman. I can't serve all my customers at once. You already have the biggest cup in the place."

With her renewed request for a coffee IV, they slid into their normal banter mode then, chatting about this and that and nothing at all while they ate and had a few more beers.

Both were feeling very relaxed due to the talk and the beer as they went inside to wash the dishes and tidy the kitchen. Lorelai took her favorite position at the sink. There was something sensual about the warm soapy water as long as the plates weren't too gross. Luke moved smoothly around the kitchen, throwing out the trash and drying, then putting the dishes in the cabinet as she finished washing them.

Misjudging the distance between the sink and the kitchen chair on purpose, Luke found it necessary to brush up against Lorelai occasionally or putting his hand on her shoulder as he reached around her. His frustration at not being able to get the divorce proceedings finalized was great, and knowing that she was waiting for him, wanting him, made it all the more agonizing. He cursed his weakness even as he could hardly stop himself.

"Cheesecake!" he blurted in a juvenile attempt to get his mind off his desire.

"Cheesecake?" she repeated dumbly as she tried to push her own frustrations down the drain with the last of the dishwater.

"I- I made cheesecake for dessert," he said.

"Do you eat cheesecake?"

"My own, I do. It's my mother's recipe." He quickly plated two servings.

Lorelai poked around in the silverware drawer looking for forks. "Hah! My favorite cake forks!"

"You have favorite cake forks?"

"Sure," she shrugged. "I have favorite cereal spoons, too." She smirked at him. "I bet you have a favorite spatula. Cooks always have a favorite spatula."

He chuckled. "Got me there. Mine must be fifty years old by now. A wooden handle with red and yellow paint. Half the paint's worn off. Anything to drink?"

"My father gave me a bottle of cognac or something for Christmas last year, now where did I leave it?" She rummaged around in the cabinet which held her liquor, finding her prize at the back.

"Even has two glasses. I'll just rinse them out," she said, reading the bottle. "Hmm, don't know this stuff. Could just be pretentions swill. Dad's not always successful at presents."

"Armagnac," read Luke from the label. "Brandy. It's supposed to taste better than cognac."

"Brandy and home-made cheesecake. Perfect!" said Lorelai, carrying the glasses and the cheesecake back outside, with Luke following, sniffing the Armagnac after opening the bottle.

"Jess is doing better now," commented Luke casually as he poured generous snifters for each of them.

"To Jess, then," toasted Lorelai. Luke met her eyes as their glasses touched. "I'm glad he's doing better," she added. "You must be relieved."

Luke bathed his tongue in the brandy and grimaced. He took her glass before she could drink, saying, "Let me warm it up for you."

At first he held the bowl of the glass in his hands, swirling the Armagnac to distribute the heat. Noticing the candle at the center of the table, he instead slowly turned the glass as he held it over the candle. He cupped the bowl again, then tasted it before handing it to Lorelai. "Much better," he assessed. "Here," he said as he wrapped her hands around the bowl, "It will taste smooth longer if you keep it warm." He held her hands together, basking in the feel of her skin.

Her hands felt wonderful sandwiched between the warm brandy and his even warmer hands. Realizing the temptation sitting in front of her, she threw off the sensuality of the moment and asked about Jess.

"He's moving back from California this month," said Luke, regretfully pulling his hands back and warming his own glass of brandy. "Finally had enough of his father. Poor kid."

"At least he had you for a while," she consoled him. "He'll appreciate that one day."

Luke breathed in the aroma from his snifter, using the action to avoid expressing his doubts. He stood up and stepped over to the porch rail, gripping it while subconsciously checking it to make sure it was still stable after the last time he fixed it.

Lorelai joined him silently, rubbing his back with her hand moving in large circles. He put his arm around her shoulder.

"How's the legal stuff going?" she asked, hoping for a positive answer.

"It sucks," he said briefly. "I've been calling around all day, trying to find a lawyer who'll finish the paperwork for me, but the minute I mention Stein and Co., they all turn me down. It's like the mafia. You're either in, or you're out, and if you're out, you're really out."

He took a breath before continuing. "It's more like The Godfather than real life should be. I make one stupid mistake and now I don't think I could find a lawyer in Connecticut if my life depended on it. And in this case it does. Well, not my life like life and death, but life like having any chance at happiness with the woman I've dreamed about for years, and you know, your life shouldn't be run by lawyers! It should be run by you, and people you care about and who care about you. But instead it's just a bunch of sharks who circle around their prey, taunting you with their Godfather horse's heads in beds, but sharks don't have beds and there wouldn't be horses at the bottom of the ocean where sharks sleep anyway because the horses would drown, which would actually make it easier to get the horse's head and put it in the bed that the shark doesn't have anyway, so the shark might just as well eat the horse, head and all, and …"

Lorelai's knees began to shake as his words sank in. _The woman I've dreamed about for years._ Luke's nonsensical rant was cut off by a sudden lack of air as Lorelai's lips closed over his. Detecting that he'd stopped talking, she let his lips go, asking, "Dreamed of for years?"

His answer was expressed in the softest of kisses which deepened when she responded with every fiber of her being. She knew at this moment their friendship had become attraction over the years, then flowed undetectably into love more recently. She loved Luke Danes, and by his words and his kisses, she knew he loved her too.

They lost themselves in each other, exploring the sensations of each other's hands and lips, searching out the most responsive places. She pressed him backwards until he stopped against the porch column. His hands moved under her shirt, caressing the heated skin above her pants, dipping his fingers down to the indentations about her butt, the soft skin covered in fine hair only increased his desire.

Lorelai broke the kiss, laying her head on Luke's chest while her breathing returned to normal. She looked up at him, his eyes dark and heavy-lidded with desire. Everything she wanted could be found in his eyes; his love, his desire for her, his friendship and years-long commitment to her and her daughter.

"Luke," she said, "I don't care about the legal papers. Do we really have to wait?"

Luke froze while her words burned into his skull. He set her a step away from him, then pulled her back into an impossibly tight embrace, then released her again, this time moving himself away from the column, giving himself some space.

He drained his now-cold brandy, refused to give into the desire for a second dose of the numbing liquid and looked at her with remorse.

Lorelai read his emotion correctly, but wrongly attributed it to something she had done. Wrapping her arms around her waist, gripping herself so tightly that it hurt, she barely squeaked out the question, "What did I do? What's wrong? Oh god, have I screwed this up already?" She turned away, saying, "I knew it – I ruin everything I touch." She buried her face in her hands.

Dumbfounded, Luke stared at her for a moment as it sank in that she was blaming herself for his mistake.

"I'm so sorry I ruined our friendship, Luke. I- I just thought we had something more," she said miserably, unable to look at him.

He grabbed her elbows and held them tightly. "Lorelai, look at me. It's not your fault. Nothing is your fault. I'm the dumbass."

Despair turned to anger. "Then tell me what's going on, Luke! I can't stand not knowing. There's something important here and it's not just a contract or two!"

He took her hands and led her to the porch steps. Settling her down, leaning against the rail, he sat and leaned against the opposite rail.

He rested his elbows on his knees, staring at his feet, trying to find the words to express his feelings of guilt and shame. "I was jealous. Jealous and bitter. Then Jess, a- and Nicole came along. After that I got angry, but by then I was on my path to hell, and that's where I've been ever since."

Lorelai's stomach hurt even though she hand no clue what he was talking about. She drew her knees up to her body, wrapped her arms around them and squeezed hard, trying to relieve the pressure on her stomach and the ache in her heart.

"I taught you to fish. You went fishing with some other guy. You were always dating some other guy. Jess was relentless, telling me I was wasting my time, that you'd never want me, that I had no chance with you."

"You believed him? You never even asked me out! How could you not even ask, Luke?"

"He didn't tell me anything I hadn't already told myself. I needed just one sign, one reason to believe that you might consider me, but I never saw it. Then Nicole came, and she was one big walking "I'm attracted to you" sign."

"But we had a relationship already, Luke! You could have told me. You could have spent time with me. We would have seen the signs eventually." Lorelai felt the pain of the moments she'd thought, 'maybe we do have something more than friendship,' but watched them fade away before either of them did anything.

"Nicole and I dated; I was never serious, but it felt good to have someone showing interest in me. I didn't have to grasp at straws, hoping that one day you'd want me too. I wanted to make you jealous."

Lorelai felt sad, and a little ashamed that she never told him her feelings either. "That at least worked. I got so mad at myself, being jealous of my friend who was finding happiness with someone else. I felt guilty, like I didn't want you to be happy with anyone else, even though you didn't want to be with me either."

He looked at her in surprise. "What makes you think I didn't want to be with you? You were jealous of Nicole? Why didn't you say something? God, I wish you'd said something, anything would have done. I always wanted to be with you."

Luke inspected the porch steps again. "I told you it wasn't serious with her, but she kept moving along in the relationship, inviting me to a weekend skiing, or to meet her parents."

"Or on a cruise," whispered Lorelai.

"Or on a cruise," he agreed. "I really wanted you to tell me not to go."

"Luke, how did you expect me to tell you that? I was so jealous and felt so guilty about being jealous. It was so hard to tell you to do what I thought would make you happy. Why didn't you just tell me how you felt about me?"

"I honestly thought you knew," he said morosely. "All those busybodies were always talking about us. How in God's name they never realized I could hear almost everything they were saying right in my diner, I'll never understand. Didn't they tell you?"

"They did," she said. "I didn't believe them. Why didn't you say something?"

"Because I showed you how I felt! Do you think a hand-carved chuppah is a neighborly gesture? Like it's a wedding gift from a casual acquaintance like a toaster oven? Did I go to Babette and ask her if I should go on a cruise? Did I let Taylor convince me to paint the diner? Did I take Miss Patty to help me find a new apartment?"

"I was blind, Luke. I need words. Simple, direct statements. All I got from you were weird half-questions and comments on my eating habits." She reconsidered, then added, "I know there were also special moments, when you'd encourage me and I felt so close to you. I'd wonder if maybe there was something more there than friendship, but …"

"… I never just said it. I get it." He gave her a self-effacing smile. "Maybe I should have said, 'Here's your burger, and if you wouldn't mind, I'd appreciate it if you would French me before you leave.'"

Lorelai couldn't resist a giggle at that. "Miss Patty would have tipped you double that day."

A spark lit in her eye. "Or maybe, 'Luke, after you come over to check for termites under my porch, would you mind please coming upstairs with me and kissing me senseless?'"

"How about 'Lorelai, remember that toy you were going to give me after the career day speech? I've got a nice adult toy catalog that you can choose something from.'"

"Dirty! I love it!"

"Guess what's in the basket you just bought, Luke."

"Dirty right back at cha!"

Lorelai scooted over to Luke's side of the porch steps. She took his hand in hers. "Luke, do you think we can do better, knowing what we know now?"

"I need a drink." He stood up, but when he saw the shocked look on her face, he added, "You can't answer that question until you know the worst about me. And to tell you that, I need another drink."

He brought the Armagnac and snifters to the steps, poured each of them another modest glass, then pounded his back in one swallow. Lorelai, holding her untouched glass, waited, concerned for her friend.

Letting the impact of the alcohol sink in for a moment, he looked at her full glass. "You might want that before I talk."

Her eyes widened, but she said nothing.

"It's not just about some diner contracts. Nicole and I got married on the cruise."

Lorelai's brandy disappeared faster than Mallomars on her birthday. "You couldn't ask me to go to dinner, but you got married to someone you don't even love on the spur of the moment?"

"See? Now you know just how big a dumbass I am."

"I'm inclined to agree with you there, buddy. Another round?" She lifted the bottle and poured a third round.

"Hit me with your worst. I deserve it." Luke waited for the command to leave and never darken her door again.

"So this contract you're trying to finish isn't about the diner at all, is it?"

"It's a divorce filing." He hung his head in shame, although he was glad at the same time that he'd finally told her the truth.

The shock began to sink in. Lorelai stood up and walked down a couple of steps before turning to face Luke. She abruptly put up both hands and shoved his shoulders. "You got married!?" This time her voice wasn't calm at all. "How could you just get married?"

"Yeah, that's the part I'm not so clear about. The boat was full of people who were either celebrating an anniversary or on their honeymoon. We sat at a table with two older couples, friends, who were celebrating their 35th anniversaries together."

"The two wives took Nicole under their wing and really put thoughts of marriage in her head. By the last couple of days of the cruise, she was really into the idea. The ladies made sure there was plenty of alcohol served that night before dinner, during dinner and after dinner. Next thing I knew one of them was feeding me the words and I was asking her to marry me, while the other was getting the captain to perform the ceremony on the spot."

"Oh, Luke."

"When we woke up the next day and realized what we'd done, we immediately decided to divorce. No question about it. It was without a doubt the most stupid thing I'd ever done in my life."

"So you came home and started the divorce filing?"

"Yes, and Nicole said it is ready, it only needed one final check by her colleague. But then she wanted to call off the divorce."

"Call off the divorce?"

"Yeah, and start dating again. She didn't like it when I told her I didn't want to do either one. I knew then I had to get out of the relationship."

"That's when you broke up?"

"Yeah. Ever since she's been dragging her feet on the papers and keeps asking me to get back together. She made one last shot – that was the boysenberry pie incident. After that she told Taylor I'll get the divorce papers when hell freezes over."

"Taylor knows you're married?"

"No, he just knows there's paperwork being held up. Makes him way too happy and pisses me off."

Lorelai flopped onto the step just below Luke's feet and leaned against his legs for support. "It's nice to know that it's not just my life that is full of surreal events."

"I'm sorry Lorelai. I wish I'd said something years ago."

She turned to him and slid one arm behind his calves, resting her head on his knee. "Me, too, Luke, me too. The only thing that's standing between you and me moving on is a lawyer who can file the papers?"

"Pretty much, yes. I've got a copy, someone just needs to take them and file them properly. As soon as it's got my signature and filed, the divorce is just a matter of time. I only need to find a lawyer who isn't beholden to Stein and Co."

"My mother will know someone who knows someone, she always does. I'll ask her tomorrow night."

"Any chance of her not finding out it's me? I mean, I'm not high on her list, but I'd sure like to not be a source of trouble between you two."

"I'll try, but you've heard my Emily stories, and you've met her a couple of times. Don't count on it."

"Oh well, it's just another minor humiliation on my way to Lorelai Gilmore. I guess I can live with it." He ran his hand over her hair as they sat in silence.

"At least you'll have passed the tests of fire, which means you'll be tough enough to survive the disaster that is Lorelai Gilmore. I hope."

* * *

"Dad, I opened your Armagnac the other night. It was delicious. Thank you for giving it to me," said Lorelai sincerely as she, Rory, Richard and Emily enjoyed their Friday Night Dinner for a change.

"You're very welcome, Lorelai. How did you drink it?" he asked, smiling gently at his daughter.

"At first we warmed it in our hands, but it tasted a lot better when we used a candle to get it to the right temperature."

"Sounds like someone knew how to treat a good brandy. Did you learn it from the inn?" he asked.

"No, Luke knew how to do it. Something he learned from his father, I guess."

"You were drinking good Armagnac with Luke? The diner owner?" asked Emily.

"I was drinking great Armagnac with Luke, my friend, Mom. He's my friend, the only one I know who can appreciate a good brandy."

"I was never going to drink any," offered Rory helpfully. "It's nice to do something for Luke for a change. He's always helping us. Do you know he helped me pack for Yale? And he gave me a goodie box to take with me."

"The artichokes taste great, Mom," said Lorelai, changing the subject. Lorelai was on her best behavior, which had already triggered Emily's radar. Something was up, she thought, even though Rory doesn't seem to have a clue.

"Thank you Lorelai," said Emily with a polite smirk. "I was a little worried. I can never remember whether it's avocado or artichoke that you don't like."

"Here's a poem to help you remember – I like tequila, but not guacamole, and an artichoke in butter makes me say holy-moly." Groans around the table gave her exactly the response she expected.

"So, Mom, I was wondering if you've ever heard of a legal firm called Stein and Co."

"Certainly, Lorelai. They are one of the premier law firms in Connecticut. A number of my friends have used them for various reasons." This was it, thought Emily. Some legal problem. "Do you need a lawyer? We have many good contacts, it just depends on which services you need."

"I don't need anything, Mom, thanks, at least not until the Dragonfly opens, but that's months away. It's a friend of mine getting a divorce. The other party has already engaged Stein and Co., so my friend needs someone to file some papers."

"Hmm. I'll have to think about that for a little while. Stein has a very good network. I hope your friend is willing to travel a little. What are the circumstances of the divorce?" Emily asked the last question with deliberate informality, knowing that Lorelai loved to tell a story, and when she got involved in her story, she let her guard down. That trick had worked since Lorelai was a child.

Tonight Emily was out of luck, which also told her something. It meant her daughter had a personal involvement with at least one of the parties that was strong enough to want to hide it.

Lorelai knew the game, too, so she gave her mother just enough information to help her, but not so much that Emily would interfere. Her fledgling relationship with Luke was too precious to risk in an informal chat.

"The couple was about to break up, but one drunken night they got married on an impulse. When they sobered up, they realized that it was a big mistake and now they need a divorce. Really simple, actually."

"Marry in haste, repent in leisure. What a shame. I hope there were no children involved."

"Of course not, Mother. It was just one stupid mistake."

"Where did they get married?" asked Emily.

"On a cruise ship. Can you imagine? How crazy is that?"

Rory's fork clattered to her plate, and as she grabbed for it, accidentally knocked over her water glass.

"Rory! Are you alright?" asked Richard, concerned for his beloved granddaughter.

"I'm fine Grandpa, just a little tired from studying all week," she fibbed, as Emily went to get the maid to clean up the table.

"Very good, then, I'll take a moment to make a short phone call," said Richard, unwilling to sit there while Emily upbraided yet another maid, probably this time for having placed the glasses incorrectly.

"Mom! Are you kidding? Did they really get married?" Rory whispered across the table.

"Ssh! Don't say a word! Emily can hear everything!" hissed Lorelai back.

"He's getting divorced? And he wants to be with you?"

"We'll talk about it at home!" Turning to Emily as she entered the room with the maid, she said, "Oh, Mom, you're back! Rory, move your plate. Take Grandpa's place until he returns." Lorelai chattered quickly, trying to cover for the possibility that Emily had overheard their discussion.

Emily resumed her position at the table without alluding to the divorce discussion again.

* * *

A/N – Just one more chapter to go, still a couple of things for Luke to fix, and maybe there's a laugh or two in it as well.

To my green tea drinking friend, yes, Terrance's snorting was in honor of your PM.


	9. Holy Crap

LFI 9 Holy Crap

A/N – the final chapter in Luke Fixed It. Hopefully he fixed enough to satisfy you without completely losing his cantankerous personality, and he apologizes for all the shoes that were boysenberry-bombed in the name of getting this story out to you.

* * *

"If you put the shelves up around the board, then there's space in the middle for the pictures," suggested Rory, as she and Lorelai sat a few feet away from the former hole in the diner wall. The last stage of planning for "Action Chuppah Chuppah Luke" (Lorelai's name for the project) was well underway.

"Where does the Dancing Pork Chop go?" asked Lorelai. "Maybe we could mount it to a spring and let it bounce, like a Bobble Head doll."

"That sounds like fun, I wonder if I can reserve that table permanently." Kirk leaned over to take part in the conversation.

"No way, Kirk," scolded Gypsy, "Luke doesn't reserve tables, not for anyone. And keep quiet about this; we're trying to surprise him."

Exiting the kitchen, Luke was puzzled by the weird grouping of townies in the diner. People who never sat together, like Lorelai and Gypsy, had their heads together and were whispering. Rory and Kirk seemed to be in some sort of argument. Tom and Andrew were at yet another table, drawing something on paper. He delivered the food to the tourists at the other side of the diner, then approached the group from the other side, surprising them. Andrew grabbed the papers and hid them underneath a book he brought with him.

"What's going on here? I don't like the looks of this," he growled, scanning the guilty faces surrounding him.

"Nothing!" cried Lorelai while the others all nodded their heads like the Bobble Head dolls recently discussed.

"Luke, would you reconsider your policy of no reservations? I would like to reserve a table," asked Kirk. "Ow!" he shouted as Gypsy gave him a quick kick on the shin. "It's a fair question and doesn't even bring up … mmpf! Oof!" This time Gypsy tackled him.

"I repeat, what's going on? It's hard to tell, I know, but this is even crazier than normal behavior."

"Rory's REALLY hungry, Luke," pleaded Lorelai as she elbowed her beloved daughter in the side. "The eyes! Do the eyes!" she hissed dramatically.

First squeezing her eyes closed as if she were focusing all the power into one burst, she gave Luke the 'Rory eyes' as she asked for breakfast. "Luke, you can't believe how terrible the food is at Yale. Can you please please please make me some pancakes? Made by you, not Caesar, OK? Yours are the best."

Lorelai smirked as she watched the grumpy man struggle, then saw his resistance melt away. "The eyes get him every time," she gloated to Gypsy.

"One of these days that's not gonna work and you're going to be really sorry," he muttered impotently as he stalked back to the kitchen, chased by the giggles of his friends.

The group quickly dispersed after agreeing to meet again as soon as Lorelai could convince Luke to leave for a few hours that afternoon. Action Chuppah Chuppah Luke was a go.

Lorelai flipped open her cell phone to take the incoming call. She began to curse the fact that it was her mother calling, but stopped when she remembered Emily owed her a lawyer recommendation for Luke.

"Hi Mom, so nice to hear from you," she said brightly.

"Lorelai, this is your mother," opened Emily. "Wait! What? Did you just take my call without letting it go to the answering thingy?"

"Hi Mom, my phone shows me that it's you calling. That's why I answered so promptly."

"Who are you and why do you have my daughter's phone?"

"Mom, please. Be serious." Lorelai grinned, happy to throw her overbearing mother off-balance for a second. That happiness dissipated as Luke stuck his head out of the kitchen and gave Lorelai the sign to go outside while she was on the cell phone.

She squeezed past Taylor as he entered the diner with papers in his hand.

"Lorelai, do you want my help for your friend, or not?" Emily remonstrated.

"Want, please. Thank you Mom. What's the scoop?"

"The 'scoop,' as you call it, is that your friend has a formidable enemy. There isn't a lawyer within 20 miles who would take a divorce case against Stein and Co."

"That sounds bad."

"It's not impossible, though. I talked to your father's cousin Marilyn."

"Marilyn!?" interrupted Lorelai. "Why her?"

"She was once married to one of the partners, I think the second Stein, but I can't really remember. She took him for a pretty penny, I believe."

"Which marriage was that one?"

"Umm, maybe her fourth, or perhaps the third. She can't even keep track of them, why should I? In any case, she will definitely know which Connecticut lawyers can file the papers for your friend. What was your friend's name again?" Emily asked subtly.

"My friend asked for anonymity, Mom. I'd tell you if I could," she fibbed. "So all I have to do is call Marilyn and get the names and numbers?"

"Yes, it should be pretty easy. You've still got her number, right?"

The rattling of the diner window compelled Lorelai to turn around and look inside. A shower of papers flew out of Taylor's hand as Luke and he gesticulated wildly, clearly engaged in a vein-popping shouting match. The weird thing was, Luke looked as if he were enjoying it; almost as if he'd missed it recently.

"Mom, I gotta go. Little emergency here."

"Where are you anyway, Lorelai?"

"Rory and I are at the diner, finishing breakfast. I REALLY gotta go now, Mom, but thankyouthankyouthankyou for the lawyer. I'll give Marilyn a call today. Bye!"

Barely giving her mother enough time to reply, she flipped the phone shut and dashed inside. She waved her hands defensively as she tried to get between the two shouting men.

"Hey, hey hey, you two! What's going on here?" she asked, right before she slipped and fell flat on her butt.

"Holy crap!" she exclaimed. Lorelai looked down at the purple mess on the floor rapidly staining the side of her jeans and pink suede kitten heels. "What's this?" she asked, drawing a finger through the gloppy mess and lifting it to her mouth.

"Don't eat that!" Luke yelled as he grabbed her hand and wiped it off, "It was just on the floor!"

"Take it easy, Luke, I just took a little off the top. I didn't touch anything that was actually touching floor. Rory and I have floor food down to an art form. Between the five second rule and knowing what hasn't actually been on the floor, we've saved many a dinner disaster at the Crap Shack."

He helped her up and used his towel to wipe some of the biggest chunks off her clothes. She amusedly watched him turn pink as he brushed too near some places that thrilled him to touch last night. "I'll get you a clean towel," he mumbled and retreated momentarily to the kitchen.

There was just enough goop left on her finger that Lorelai could taste the flavor. "Mmm, boysenberry." Unable to repress her evil nature, she called, "Luke, did you just throw a boysenberry pie at Taylor?"

"He most certainly did," huffed Taylor. "I was peacefully and innocently handing him a flyer or two to put up on this eyesore of a board when he practically attacked me with a slice of pie."

Before Luke could storm back out of the kitchen to defend his honor, half the customers called Taylor out on his exaggerations.

"He at least has to pay for my shoes," grumbled the shopkeeper. "There's pie on them."

Gypsy gave him the evil eye before inspecting his shoes. "Taylor, your shoes are perfectly clean, but even if they weren't, Luke should just deduct it from the money you owe him for damaging his buildings."

Lorelai stood, one shoe in her hand, observing calmly how the purple stain spread across the suede. Luke came out with a broom and dustpan to clean up the bigger pieces of pie and watched her, half-expecting signs of a meltdown.

"You're not going to tell me that those are Manolos, are you?" he asked warily. "I'll replace them if you want."

"Lucas, you know Manolo Blahniks? I'm impressed," said Taylor, with no one in the diner even wondering why Taylor knew what Manolo Blahniks were. Luke gritted his teeth and focused on cleaning up the mess.

"Yeah, Luke's got a thing for Manolos," said Lorelai, "but you don't have to worry here, honey, these aren't Manolos." She didn't need to look at him to feel the daggers shooting from his eyes.

"The only 'thing' I've got for Manolos is the conviction that they are the most ridiculous, useless waste of cowhide on the planet. Women can barely stand in them, much less walk. Charging a thousand bucks for two tiny straps of leather is a joke! That leather is probably even the leather left over after making a pair of real shoes, you know the kind people can actually walk in."

"Hey!" cried Gypsy. "Grumpy ranting Luke is back!" A general cheer rose up from the crowd, and over in Kirk's corner he made the wave, a little awkwardly since no one else participated.

Luke stood up and carried the mess back to the kitchen, followed by Lorelai, waving her shoe as she hopped on one foot. "Really, it's OK! They're off-brand and were 6000 percent off."

After a few minutes, the cleaning and mopping was done. Luke walked to where Lorelai sat on a stool at the counter, and sagged tiredly onto the stool next to hers, looking out the window at Taylor's departing form. She spun around to face the same direction as he did. Most of the other townies were still there, having apparently decided Luke's was the place to be on this particular Saturday morning.

"Luke, why do you keep throwing perfectly good pie on the floor? You know boysenberry's my favorite," teased Lorelai, pretending to lick the pie filling off her shoe.

He snatched the shoe out of her hands, saying, "Stop that." Turning it over in his hand, he asked, "Is it ruined?"

"Noooo," she gibed. "They're pink AND purple now. Pretty. Sticky, too. I can probably use them to hold paperclips or something."

"Do you need a ride home? You shouldn't walk in them. Stars Hollow's streets aren't all that clean, and I don't think you can hop that far."

"I can give her a ride," offered Andrew kindly.

"Thanks, but my pants are sticky, too, Andrew. I'd hate to ruin the upholstery on your pretty new car," said Lorelai.

"It was my mess, I'd better do it," said Luke. "I can just toss her into the truck bed and hose it down later." The audacity of his grin was only magnified when the others started sniggering.

Lorelai puffed up with indignation. "You owe me, Luke Danes, especially if the jeans are ruined too."

"Hey! Get off my stool with those sticky jeans!" Laughing, he tugged on her arm, but she kept her butt planted firmly. "Geez. Don't rub it into the stool," he complained when she started scooting her butt across the stool cushion.

She stopped wriggling and said thoughtfully, "I know what you can do for me."

"Why does this sound like trouble? This is going to cost me, isn't it?" He adjusted his cap as if wearing it would soften the blow as she made her demands. He sighed. "What is it?"

"Take down the sign."

"Which sign? The Luke's sign? The hardware sign? No way."

"Nope, a much smaller sign. That one." She pointed at the house rules sign.

"Uh-uh. I need those rules. They make this place tolerable." He folded his arms across his chest in defiance.

"No way. Those rules take away our grumpy Luke. You're our resident sourpuss." Lorelai smirked at him.

"C'mon, Luke, it's not like anybody's breaking the rules anymore, anyway," said Gypsy. "We've all learned what you expect."

"Except this one," he shoved a thumb in Lorelai's direction, "and she's always breaking the no cell phones rule. I need those rules. They keep me in my happy place. It's almost Zen-like." Scoffs were heard from the group, because no one could imagine Luke in a 'happy place.'

"C'mon, Luke," said Gypsy. "We missed your grouchiness. It's not Stars Hollow if you're not yelling at Taylor. Take down the sign."

"But my blood pressure…" he argued weakly.

"You're a health nut, your blood pressure must be lower than anyone else's here," said Rory. Lorelai grabbed her arm and pulled her directly in front of Luke.

"OK, kid, let him have it. Both barrels." Rory giggled at Lorelai's bit, but then attempted to prepare the Rory face.

Luke sprang from the stool and retreated behind his counter. "You stay away from me, you – you – you with the eyes!" Catching Rory's eye, he gave her a quick wink.

He glared at Lorelai. "You're not playing fair." He looked down for a moment, hardly able to repress a smile at the girls' teasing.

"This is not a game of honor, Luke. This is guerilla warfare. We have to use every weapon at our disposal."

He looked at Rory, just not for too long, and never directly in the eyes. "Kid, you do know she's using you as cannon fodder, right?"

Rory smiled and said nothing, just looked at him. That unnerved him. Rory choked down a giggle. He pulled away, pressing himself against the back counter, wishing there were an escape route behind him.

At that moment, Luke saw his future. In winning Lorelai, he was going to start losing in so many other areas. This would be just the first.

He saw himself watching more movies than he ever could have imagined. His milk carton would be impossible to find, stuffed behind the half-empty boxes of impossibly unhealthy takeout food.

"Lower your shields and surrender your ships," said a voice from the back. Clearly there was a Borg in this group somewhere.

Town meetings. There would be town meetings he couldn't avoid, just like his dad couldn't avoid them when his mother was alive. There would be festivals, which led to punch, which led to … something he was going to have to find out, but was probably more fun than he was willing to admit today.

"You will be assimilated," said another.

There would be laughter. Crazy laughter, sweet laughter, laughter at all times of the day and night. Jokes and silliness and absurd arguments like he hadn't heard since he was a kid. There would also be grumpiness and yelling; Luke's dad was no slouch in the ranting department, but his mother was always able to bring him back with a smile or a joke.

Hugs. There would be hugs and kisses, and lying around on Sunday afternoons with nothing to do except, well, enjoy the hugs and kisses and the lying around.

"Resistance is futile," said a third.

Luke bristled at the pressure. It was his sign, dammit! He could put up any sign he wanted to in his own diner. That was true. He could live in this world with his rules plastered all over the damn building if he wanted to. He would yell at people and point at his sign and throw them out when they flaunted the rules. He would remain king of his diner.

Or he could choose the hugs, and the laughter, and the silliness, and yes, even the damn town meetings and festivals.

Luke Danes knew what a dumbass he'd been in recent weeks, no, in recent months, since long before Jess left.

He knew what the dumbass would choose.

Luke Danes chose the opposite.

He scowled at the pretty faces looking at him. "Well, hell," was all he said as he lithely jumped up on the back counter, grasped the sign, and gave a mighty pull as he landed easily on the floor, bringing the sign with him.

Kirk grabbed the sign and ran around the diner before rushing outside with the spoils of victory as the crowd inside cheered. Suddenly Luke reaped his first reward, two hugs, one stickier than the other, and broke into a rare, but soon to be commonplace, smile.

* * *

Several hours later Lorelai returned, a woman with two missions: lunch and getting Luke out of the diner for a few hours. Tom and the rest of the townies were ready to go as soon as she gave the signal.

"Luuuke," she called as she entered the diner. The place had emptied out after the lunch rush and they were nearly alone, just the occasional patron here and there.

"Oh, hey," he said, coming out of the storeroom carrying supplies. "Did you get the stains out?"

"The jeans are still soaking, but the shoes are goners. Time to buy more shoes!" she said happily.

"Oh geez. You're seriously going to replace them?"

"Of course, they were my favorites."

"All of your shoes are your favorites," he complained. "Let me know when you're going shopping and I'll give you my credit card to buy new ones. As long as they aren't those Manolos, got it?"

"Got it. Hey, want to go shopping with me? We can go right after you feed me. Or, better yet, we can eat at the mall."

"Uh, no."

"There's good food at the mall, and all of it's served on sticks! You'll love it."

"I'm pretty sure I won't."

"What do you think about going back to the batting cages?"

"There's an idea I can get behind."

"Dirty," she said. "Tell you what. You go with me to the mall to buy my shoes, then we'll go to the batting cages and you can get behind whatever you want."

Luke stood there, mouth hanging open. That was an offer he hadn't expected.

"You're really thinking about this, aren't you?" she snickered until he grabbed her hand to drag her upstairs to get his baseball gear.

"Let's go. I'm not eating anything deep-fried, though. Or on a stick."

"Huh," she said as she let herself be pulled along. "This was easier than I thought. Gotta remember that."

* * *

A quick call to Tom after they were in the truck on the way to the mall started the wheels rolling in the diner. Shopping went amazingly well. Replacement shoes were found with relative speed, chosen by Luke himself. Lorelai scoffed at the idea that Luke could see what suited her better and faster than she could, but Luke scoffed back, and she lost when she challenged him to see who could find the prettiest three pairs of shoes on the floor.

While eating, Lorelai gave Luke Marilyn's phone number and told him the story of her divorces and how Stein and Co. really did have a lock on most of Connecticut.

"I talked to her and she said that you'll probably have to call a few lawyers before you find one who can take the job," she said, waving her corn dog in the air to help her make her point.

Luke poked listlessly at the salad he'd found at a juice and health food bar at the food court. "I feel so stupid, and now I've got to pay more lawyers even more money to fix something I never should have done in the first place. Everything about this was stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid."

"Look on the bright side, Luke," she said.

"There is no bright side. Even with us, and I'm really glad we're going to have an 'us', I should have done that years ago. Stupid."

"Nope," she said patiently, looking at him as she slurped on her Orange Julius, "There's a bright side."

"OK, I give up. What's the bright side?"

"I got new shoes. New shoes make me happy."

He chuckled. "So that huge shoe cabinet I built for you is nothing more than a big box full of happiness?"

Pleased to have brought even the tiniest smile to his face, she clapped her hands. "And guess what! It's full! That means we can start planning a second one. Even more happiness!"

"Carrots make you happy. Eat a carrot," he pretend-grumbled, throwing a carrot strip at her, already trying to figure out where in her bedroom they would find space for another shoe cabinet.

Lorelai's batting session was cut short due to the shortness of her shorts combined with Luke's over-enthusiasm to 'really get behind whatever he wanted.' He did at least take the opportunity to burn off some of his self-recrimination by spending a longer time in the cage himself.

While he batted, Lorelai took the chance to call Tom and find out that everything was set up and ready to go.

As they parked in front of the diner, Luke said, "Still looks empty in there. I'm going to take a quick shower before the dinner rush starts. Do you want to stay or maybe come back later?"

She smiled, a little nervous and anxious, wondering how well Luke would accept the changes to the diner. All of the changes he'd liked lately were changes he'd made himself. There was always the chance that this would send him into another rant, or worse yet, he'd hate it.

"I think I'll stay for a little while, you know, drink some coffee for a change." She clasped her hands together nervously, arching her eyebrows in hope as she swayed back and forth.

He raised his eyebrows at her 'for a change' remark, but was pleased that she wasn't going to leave quite yet. "Great. Let me tell Caesar that I'm back, …" He looked to the side. "What the hell?"

Dropping his bag on the floor, Luke approached the new shelves with Lorelai close on his heels. He ran his fingers over the familiar wood, feeling a few new gouges and dents thanks to Taylor's handiwork.

"My dad's shelves," he murmured.

"And the dancing pork chop," she giggled. "He bounces now." Using both hands, she picked up Luke's baseball gear and carried it behind the curtain, getting it out of the way as he focused on the shelves.

One by one, Luke touched everything he thought he'd lost, naming them: the cubbies for gaskets and washers, an old radio, his dad's socket wrench set. His voice thickened as he spoke, memories flooding back.

Tears threatened to fall from her own eyes as Lorelai rubbed his arm to comfort him. As he noticed the pictures on the board he'd mounted to cover the window, she said softly, "Rory and Harry put this layout together. The pictures came from everyone."

He smiled at the myriad images. His parents with him as a toddler. Rory only a few years older. Mia and his mother on the back porch enjoying a lemonade. A young Mayor Harry on inauguration day. Andrew, Gypsy, more townies than he could count. Not far from the center of the board, a candid snapshot of a young couple enjoying a picnic in the gazebo. The man looked affectionately at the woman, almost as if he were saying, "This is nice."

"Who took that?" he asked, pointing to the picture of him and Lorelai on Basket Auction Day.

"I don't know, probably Kirk," she guessed. "Nice, isn't it?"

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and smiled. "Yeah." His face glowed with happiness.

A photo of Lorelai, Andrew and Gypsy at the dump, covered in dust, told him how this happened.

"You did this, didn't you? That's why you were so dusty that day."

"We did it, all of us. We did it for you," she said with assurance. "Tom, these guys, everyone."

"No one would have done it if you hadn't led the way. Only you would be crazy enough to try something like this. Now tell me – did you do this?"

Her moist eyes darted everywhere, looking at anything but his face. She couldn't remember the last time she'd taken a breath.

"There's a goat." With a shaky hand, she pointed out a small wooden goat standing just behind the pork chop.

"A goat?" he asked, a split second later it became real to him, this miraculous thing she'd done. She'd done it for him. Spent hours at the dump, organized half the town, and kept it all as a surprise for him.

"A goat." He repeated himself, awed by her gesture. Using two fingers, he turned her head toward his and caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. "You made me a chuppah."

She nodded, a shaky smile on her face. "Gilbert needed a friend. Meet Gilbert Junior."

Internally, he cursed the fact that he was still married, and couldn't kiss her senseless like he wanted to do. Instead, he squeezed her in his arms and buried his face in her hair, whispering, "Thank you. Thank you for my chuppah." She hugged back fiercely, delighting in the feel of his arms.

Still holding her, he reached over and tapped the pork chop, sending it swinging again. Lorelai tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear, noticing the dampness of the hair where Luke had rested his face.

"I lost my head over a good chop," she said as they watched Gilbert Junior stare woodenly at the dancing pork chop.

* * *

Lorelai was joking with Tom and the guys the next Tuesday when Luke appeared at the Dragonfly. Lorelai felt a thrill as he came across the porch, the walls only half-built. Her smile turned to consternation as he thrust a Luke's bag into her hands and walked right past her to the back of what one day would be the lobby.

"Tom, I uh, just wanted to say thanks. You did beautiful work," said Luke, acknowledging Tom's effort on his shelves.

"Anything to shut that one up," Tom smirked, pointing to Lorelai.

"I hear ya," commiserated Luke as he turned and made himself a liar by winking quickly at Lorelai, who by now was affronted and stood with her hands on her hips. "Be careful," he called, "There's coffee in that bag. Don't want to ruin another pair of jeans, do you?"

He turned back to Tom. "I'm guessing you had a little help?" He waved his hands at Tom's crew.

"Yeah, they all pitched in at one point or another."

"Good, I've got some bagels and stuff in the truck. I'll bring it in."

The guys settled into an impromptu break while Luke escorted Lorelai outside to a more secluded spot. "Good danish?" he asked, finding the ground more interesting than any other view at the moment.

"Mmm-hmmm," she agreed, her mouth full.

"Uh, hey, are you still up for a road trip?" he asked, more shy than he should have been, which only endeared him to her.

"You bet. Pack light layers, that's what Rory always says," She wiped the last of the danish off her lips, her brain racing ahead of her mouth for once. _A road trip means he found a lawyer, which means he's going to get his paperwork filed, which means … _She wasn't ready to admit it to herself that she was excited beyond belief.

"Good," he said nervously, "Good." He smiled sheepishly as thoughts similar to hers ran through his head.

"What happened? I can't wait to hear."

"Your cousin Marilyn had a few names for me to call. She talks really fast, did you know that? Of course you knew that," he reproved himself.

"My father's cousin," corrected Lorelai. "She's Trix's sister's girl."

"Trix? That's a name?"

"What can I say? The Gilmores are nothing if not inventive."

He shook his head, confused as always by Gilmore logic. "Anyway. I have an appointment with a lawyer up in the northeast corner of Connecticut. That's Thursday. If the papers are in order, he might be able to file on Friday."

"That sound promising." Lorelai was guarded. It would be too easy to presume that everything would be resolved this week.

"Yeah, although he was cautious. I sent him a copy of the papers today." He rocked back and forth on his feet, clearly nervous. "So I was kinda thinking we could just make a weekend of it, have a real break, you know? They've got a bunch of lakes, and I hear it's real pretty."

She nodded, a bright smile lighting her face. "A weekend at the lake sounds great. Did you choose a place to stay?"

"I was kinda hoping you could do that, what with being in the trade and all," he said, thinking she would choose a place she'd enjoy. "Make sure you choose someplace nice. It's my treat, 'cause you're keeping me sane on this crazy trip."

"That won't be easy, but I'll do what I can," she said. "I'll let you know when I've found a place, OK?"

He squeezed her elbow affectionately. "Great. I'll see you later, then."

Later that afternoon, when Lorelai was back home and could made some phone calls, she decided to start with Cousin Marilyn herself.

"Lorelai! It's such a pleasure to hear from you! I can never get enough of my favorite niece, you know."

"Well, that is good to hear, because I want to see you this weekend," said Lorelai happily and truthfully. Richard's cousin Marilyn was not only as strange in her own was as Lorelai was in hers, but she was also somewhat of a black sheep in her immediate family, having married four times and was open to a fifth.

"Really? That's lovely. I talked to your young friend, you know. Are you coming to keep him company, or did you just miss me too much?"

"You know, Marilyn, I'd visit you more often if I were invited more often," hinted Lorelai. "This weekend, though, I am coming with Luke."

"Aah, I see," said Marilyn sagely. "So are you the cause of the breakup or simply the reason for him being in a hurry?"

Something inside Lorelai said that Marilyn was a safe place to say the truth. She knew that Marilyn and Emily didn't have the best relationship, so it wouldn't be that she would call Emily to gossip about Luke and her. "It's worse than that. I was sorta the cause of the marriage."

"Say no more. I understand the green-eyed monster very well. Young Luke said that he married on a whim and regretted it instantly. I can imagine that if he knew what a wonderful person you are."

Lorelai giggled at the thought of 'young' Luke, and what he would say when he heard it. "We're looking for a nice place to stay from Thursday until Monday morning. Luke really likes nature and stuff. Are there any good hotels on a lake, maybe?"

"You are not staying at a hotel, young lady. I insist you use my cabin. It's on a small lake, is very quiet, there are only a few other houses, and it's yours as long as you need. I'll send the staff in on Thursday morning to make sure it's clean and is stocked with everything you need. Just give me a call when you're getting close and I'll meet you there to show you around."

"Sounds fabulous, Marilyn, I'm looking forward to seeing you again."

"On Friday I insist that you come to a party at the house. It's not one of those stuffy parties like Emily throws, it will be relaxed and fun. Plenty to drink and eat and things to do. Promise you'll come?"

"Absolutely, we're looking forward to it. We'll see you on Thursday, then." Lorelai rolled her eyes at the thought of convincing Luke to go to a party, but it was the price of getting the best cabin in northeast Connecticut.

* * *

"Luke, look! We have matching luggage!" declared Lorelai happily.

"No, I have matching luggage, and you're using some of it. As a matter of fact, you're using most of it."

"You're not packed yet," she said. "You still need something for the party."

He looked at her exasperatedly. "I need to get these papers together, you know, for the meeting; the whole reason for going. Why don't you just choose an outfit for me and finish packing the suitcase?"

"Sure!" she said as she headed for Luke's closet. Luke realized that he was probably going to regret that decision, but finding his birth certificate was a higher priority.

Luke stuffed the last of his papers into the old briefcase as Lorelai zipped up his suitcase. The thought that she might interpret the fact that he'd packed a box of condoms as a sign that he was expecting something from her that she wasn't ready to give made him feel uneasy, but not so uneasy that he wanted to stop and talk about it now. Now they needed to get on the road. He wanted to be on time and to be prepared. The sooner this was over the better.

His mood remained dour as they drove. She fiddled with her first cup of coffee, and finished it before Lorelai decided she needed to say something. "Luke, your grouchiness has reached a level never before seen by man. Can you please relax and take it easy?"

"No, I can't" he insisted. "This is too important. I can't screw this up any more." He gripped the steering wheel tighter, his jaw working as if it were trying to get him to talk.

"Luke, please stop for a minute." Her voice was concerned, and she spoke softly without trying to force him to do anything.

Instantly his attitude flipped from grumpy to caring. "Do you need a rest stop?"

"No, here's good."

He pulled over to the shoulder and stopped. "What do you need?"

"I need you to relax. If this lawyer can't do the job, we'll keep looking until we find one that does. We'll have a nice weekend and we'll keep looking until it works. Hey, worst case we'll go to Vegas. Want to go to Vegas with me, Luke? The mother of all road trips. You and me at the craps table? Five card stud?"

He couldn't help smiling at her attempt to cheer him up. "It's just that …"

"Nix on the 'just that' Luke. It's one meeting that will be over by dinnertime tonight. No matter what happens, it will still be dinnertime and we will still be hungry and I will still want to have a nice evening with you. Everything else we leave until tomorrow. Deal?"

With a sigh, he reluctantly gave up his standard process of feeling tense and worried. "Deal. Ready to go on?"

"Eastward Ho, young Luke."

* * *

"Holy crap! You call that a cabin?"

"No, Cousin Marilyn calls that a cabin. I call it a free weekend getaway."

"I like your thinking. Uh, thanks for packing my good clothes. I think I'm gonna need them."

The five bedroom luxury home rose imperiously in front of them. Dwarfed by the size of the house, a tall gray-haired woman came out the front door, clasping her hands happily in front of her. The bounce in her step and the light in her eyes was familiar to Luke – it was the same as Lorelai's.

He pulled the truck near the door and parked. Lorelai sprang out of the truck before he'd come to a complete stop, ran across to Marilyn and hugged her.

He took his time going over to them, seeing that whatever they were talking about, they had the same energy that Lorelai and Rory used when they met up after being apart. It wasn't worth trying to participate in that initial conversation, because they speed at which they caught up with each other was mind-boggling.

He fiddled with the suitcases and checked his fishing gear. As they drove around the lake to the house, he saw several quiet places that might have good fishing possibilities. He chuckled when he saw that Lorelai had included her fishing waders, recalling the time he taught her to fish in a kiddie swimming pool, perversely pleased that he'd heard she never actually went fishing with the guy.

"You must be Luke," said Marilyn as she came to the truck and offered her hand. Rather than shaking it, she clasped his hand between both of hers. "It is such a pleasure to meet you. Lorelai, you have very good taste."

"I do," she crowed, "I could tell he was special from the day we met almost eight years ago."

Luke scoffed. "You were annoying."

"And you were grumpy. It took me weeks before I got you to crack a smile."

"So, Luke," said Marilyn, sliding her hand into the crook of his arm and pulling him toward the door. "So sorry about the divorce. Were you married the whole eight years?"

"No, only since June of this year," replied Luke, starting to feel uncomfortable. "It was a kind of a weird thing. A fluke."

Marilyn turned to Lorelai. "For shame, Lorelai. You let him hang all those years? I blame you for his predicament."

Lorelai sputtered her innocence while Luke laughed out loud. He quickly made sure Marilyn was apprised of the true story, unwilling to let Lorelai take the blame for his mistakes.

After showing them the house, garden, and lake, and explaining the little quirks about the boat, they walked her to the door, again thanking her for her hospitality.

"Never mind that. You'll pay me back by being a breath of fresh air in my stale old parties."

"More like fresh meat," quipped Lorelai.

"Hush, you. Luke, if Lorelai gives you any more trouble, you come to me. I'll take you myself, or if I'm already married again, then I've got lots of friends. Good, funny ones, not like Emily's DAR friends. Now you two enjoy your FYBO weekend, and I hope everything goes well with the lawyer."

They walked out front with her and waved her off, then emptied the truck. Lorelai, red-faced and quiet after Marilyn's use of the acronym FYBO, said almost nothing, which went unnoticed by Luke as he spoke enthusiastically about the boat and the lake.

"Man, this is a nice place. It's been a while since I've been out on a lake this nice. What's the DAR, by the way?"

Lorelai laughed nervously. "Daughters of the American Revolution. It's a charity thing my mother belongs to. Bunch of uptight, rich witches."

"And what was that other word? Hmmph, can't remember. Did it have anything to do with the DAR?" He cheerfully set their gear in the foyer.

"You'd be surprised," answered Lorelai cryptically. "Don't you have to get to your appointment?"

"Oh man, yeah! I'd better get going. You're gonna be all right here?"

"Sure. Marilyn's taken good care of us, and I promised both Sookie and Tom that I'd call so we could arrange some more work."

The next several hours passed quickly for Lorelai as she relaxed, snacked, sunbathed and worked on her plan for the Dragonfly. Teleconferences with Tom and Sookie went smoothly and she even found time to call Rory. She settled onto a lounge chair on the back deck with a martini.

"Marilyn's cabin sounds fabulous, Mom," said Rory. "How come you haven't connected with Marilyn before?"

"When I moved to Stars Hollow, it was easier to drop all Gilmore connections than to try to keep the ones I actually liked. I was sixteen, remember, and not necessarily making all the best decisions. I'm not going to make that mistake again, though, Marilyn's a hoot."

"I'm looking forward to meeting her one day. Make sure you take me along next time, OK?"

"You got it, kid."

"I hope you and Luke have a lot of fun. Don't get into any trouble."

Hanging up, Lorelai heard someone walking inside the house. "I'm back here! Beer's in the fridge!" she called as she stood up and stretched her back and legs. The perfect sunny day had allowed her to sunbathe in shorts and a skimpy top. The martini, actually the second martini, had relaxed her thoroughly.

She was just opening a beer when Luke walked into the kitchen. "Here you go," she said, handing it to him, after which she topped off her martini. Hot, tired and thirsty, he emptied half the bottle in a few gulps.

Luke's relief at having this meeting behind him made him talkative. "The meeting went great. We spent all afternoon going through every detail. I finally understand the papers. He's going to work on them tomorrow morning and I'll go back in the early afternoon. He hopes to be able to file tomorrow."

"Amen to that, sisterfriend." Her giggle and slightly unsteady walk told Luke she was a bit tipsy. "Maybe brotherfriend is the right word?"

"Brother? I don't think so," he growled, feeling her warmth as she gravitated to him.

"The force is strong with this one," she said using a hokey Yoda voice, putting her hands on his chest, feeling the smoothness of the dress shirt he'd worn that day.

"Quoting Darth Vader isn't going to get you anywhere," he said, finishing his beer and putting his arms around her.

"I'm not going anywhere, I've already arrived." She smiled at him through her martini haze.

The meeting with the lawyer had given Luke hope, the heat and the beer had relaxed his muscles, and a very happy Lorelai was in his arms. He plundered her mouth as he gave into temptation he wasn't ready for, but savored anyway.

Her mouth opened, free and wild; he demanded as much as he gave in their kiss. Her body pressing against his left no doubt as to his state of mind and she pulled him even closer. He thrust his hands into her hair, the curls tousled from the sun and the breeze claiming his fingers for their own.

He groaned as he dragged his mouth from hers, pulling far enough away to see her face. Her mewling sound as he broke the kiss nearly drove him back for more.

"Lorelai, you know I can't resist you. You only have to bend your finger and I'm there, whatever you want. I'm asking you this one thing: let's talk about this. Just for a little bit." He knew he was approaching dumbass territory again, but this was important to him; he had to at least try.

She looked at him, not so tipsy that she couldn't think rationally. Desire had left her a little foggy, but Luke, her friend was looking at her right now, asking for a favor. Fiercely independent Luke, who never asked for anything.

She caressed his smooth cheek as she smiled. "Sorry, I get a little carried away when I think of Yoda. Why don't you go change, and then we'll talk?"

"Thanks." She let him drag himself away, grateful that he didn't look back as he went upstairs, because it was impossible to hide her love and affection at this moment.

He frowned slightly at the top of the stairs. _We haven't talked about sleeping arrangements yet._ Every bedroom seemed to have its own bathroom, so he chose one at random, pulled shorts and a T-shirt out of his bag and showered.

When he loped downstairs dressed in khaki shorts and a T-shirt, the atmosphere had changed. Lorelai had put on music and her game face, the one she used in earlier years when things began to get too intimate between them. They'd never gone as far as they did a few minutes ago, but the memory of that night in the diner, or a dozen other moments in their past told her to be careful.

"In or out?" she asked.

"What?" Luke was perplexed.

"Where do you want to eat? Here or go out to a restaurant?"

"Oh. I don't know. Let's see what's in the fridge." A search of the fridge and cabinets led him to propose steak for dinner. "We can use the grill out back and I found some nice wine."

"Perfect," she answered. The next couple of hours were like any dinner between Luke and Lorelai, except that he ate as well and the incredibly beautiful setting.

Lorelai did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen, afterward bringing a bottle of wine and two glasses to Luke, who was sitting on the deck, looking out over the lake. A few birds were calling, but as Marilyn said, it was a very quiet place. He breathed deeply, enjoying this 'cabin' as much as he enjoyed his own modest place closer to Stars Hollow.

"So," he said as she settled into her chair, "You have a thing for Yoda?" referring to their discussion earlier that evening.

"No Oompa-Loompa, he is, but I still like him," she replied with a wise Yoda nod. "Disappointed?"

"Not at all, just assessing the competition."

A long pause ensued, becoming more awkward every second. There were things to discuss, but neither had a way to start.

"You're way ahead of Yoda, but I don't know if you'll be able to overtake the Oompa-Loompas."

Luke nodded his head in acknowledgement. "There are a lot of them, and they are so, so, …"

"Orange?" she offered.

"Exactly. Hard to compete with that." Punch line delivered, they grew quiet again, but the silence wasn't awkward any longer.

"Thank you for my chuppah," he said. "I never expected to see any of that stuff again."

"Lots of people worked on it, it wasn't just me," said Lorelai.

"It would never have happened without you, and you know it. I don't think anyone would have even recognized those things, must less have made the effort to look for them."

"I couldn't believe that no one else even thought of it."

"I can. Outside of the diner, I'm practically invisible. As long as the diner stayed open, I could disappear off the face of the earth and no one would notice."

"Not true. I'd notice, Rory would notice. Miss Patty would notice." She giggled. "In some ways, she might miss you most of all."

"Lorelai."

"You started it. You don't need a pity party, Luke Danes, your life is great. You just need to accept it and appreciate it more. Starting now."

He grabbed her hand. "OK, let's go upstairs. I know some things I'd like to appreciate." His grin and lack of actual movement betrayed his joke.

Smacking his hand, she said, "Oh, my god, Luke, be serious." She laughed at her statement as she topped off their wine glasses. "I can't believe I had to tell Luke Danes to be serious!"

He became serious then. After another drink of wine, he asked haltingly, "How do you feel about all this? About us, uh, I mean, about the possibility, um, oh hell. I never know what to say." He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Can you please just talk?"

"Luke, I always thought that us becoming more than friends would be, you know, weird. But we've been in this in-between stage for a while, and it isn't weird at all. It's like our regular friendship, but we know something exciting is about to happen."

"Lorelai, when I ask you to wait until the papers are filed, do you understand that I'm not scared, I'm not unsure about us? I just need to know that it's finished legally, you know?

"Well, of course. You know me, the most patient person in the universe. I epitomize patience. I love being patient. I could marry patience, except that's a girls' name and I kinda wanna marry someone with a boys' name, so marrying patience would be kinda weird."

"I get it. You can wait a little longer. I'm not going anywhere either. Remember you once told me I'm in your life forever? Right back atcha."

Puzzled, she asked, "Luke, why do you keep asking me to wait? Don't you know I will?"

"Yeah, I know. Problem is, I don't want to wait. Asking you to wait is kinda reminding me that I have to wait, too."

She stood up and walked over to Luke as he lay comfortably slumped in the chair. She leaned over him and picked up the wine bottle from where he'd left it on the opposite side of his chair. Pulling back with the bottle, she brushed against him suggestively.

"You're not liking the waiting?" she asked, suddenly swinging one leg over his and settling onto his knees. She picked up his wine glass, refilled it and pressed it into his hand, running the palm of her hand over the back of his.

Her bare legs on his made Luke inhale quickly and try to sit up a little straighter. She giggled as she rocked back and forth on his knees while he settled into a better position. "You're going to torture me with this, aren't you?" he complained, feeling his whole body respond to her actions.

"Just a little. There aren't many chinks in the Luke Danes armor, so I have to take advantage of the ones I have."

"Not many?" he scoffed. "You used the Rory eyes as a weapon this week. You have a million ways to bait me." He resisted putting his hands on her hips, not trusting himself to stop at that.

She giggled. "OK, so I know a few." She kissed him on the forehead and stood up again. He breathed a sigh of relief as she sat down in her chair again.

"Thank god," he said, "I was worried I'd have to start thinking about Kirk, or baseball stats, or worse yet, Taylor."

She grinned mischievously at him, and he glared at her in response. "I think I've just seen the downside of our friendship."

"What's that, Luke? You mean that the flip side of knowing you well enough to understand your many, many flaws is that I also know you enough to torture you within an inch of your life?"

"MY many flaws?" He looked at her, his jaw working to repress a retort, but finished with, "The torture? Yeah, that's the downside." He paced to the edge of the deck, then turned to face her. "I need to tell you something."

"What now? You don't have a second wife tucked away somewhere, do you?"

He gave her a thin-lipped smile. "No more wives, no husbands, nothing. Look, Lorelai, it's simple. You win. You out-talk me, tweak me, torture me, you can do pretty much whatever you want with me, and I can't compete with that, so I give up. You win." He extended his open hands in surrender. "Just thought I'd put that out there."

Her eyes narrowed. "Out there is right! It's batshit crazy, and I am not going to accept that from you, Lucas Danes."

"What? I'm trying to tell you that I care about you and I want to have a good relationship with you!"

"Also not good enough," she said, more calmly this time.

"Then tell me what the hell you do want, Lorelai! I just want you to be happy and secure in this relationship." Frustration laced his voice.

She was mad. He wasn't going to get away with this. "You want me to be happy?" she shouted, poking him in the chest with her index finger.

"Yeah! Really happy! Goofy smiles, goo-goo eyes, hot sexy fun happy! So happy that you never want to leave!" He waved his arms back and forth with each statement.

She stared for a moment, then said, "Luke, seriously. Goo-goo eyes?" She laughed affectionately.

He turned to face the dark lake, his face beet red, grateful for the darkness.

"Luke, come here," she said, walking toward him. After he took a step or two toward her, she enveloped him in her arms. After giving him a hard, swift hug, she reached up and smacked him gently on the side of his head.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"If you want to make me happy, you bring your best to this relationship. You do not give in. You do not let me win when I haven't earned it. I will accept nothing but the best from you. If you're going to be in, I want you all in. Got it?"

"Bring my A-game, got it."

"Good." She turned to go back to her chair, but he caught her hand and pulled her back.

"Kiss me," he said emphatically.

"What if I don't want to?" she countered, eyes flashing.

"Your choice, but you don't know what you're missing."

"We've kissed before. Are you telling me it wasn't your A-game?"

"Figure it out for yourself." Letting go of her hand, he smirked, crossed his arms, and waited. He knew a couple of ways to torture Lorelai, too. One of them was to inspire her curiosity.

"Now that's what I was looking for," she said as she reached up and pulled his head down to hers. "By the way, Luke, 'tweak me?' So dirty!"

* * *

It was a fitful night. Luke and Lorelai each pondered the decision they'd made to sleep in separate rooms. Each reconsidered, then changed their minds again. Each dreamed his or her own little dirty dream about what would happen after the petition for divorce was filed. Luke dreamed a rather mundane, schmoopy event, a dinner to celebrate, then a big night to really celebrate. Lorelai's dream leaned more toward a Titanic-style arms-wide flying tour of the lake, completely naked of course, worthy of the hottest romance novel cover.

A short while after sunrise, Lorelai woke, luxuriating in the fresh crisp sheets. Her thoughts went immediately to Luke and she decided to wake him by sneaking into his room and jumping on his bed.

She padded to his room in her best coffee cup pajamas, donned in the hope that he might actually see them. Unfortunately for her he was already gone. Even his bed had been made and his clothes folded neatly on the chest of drawers.

Still barefoot, she wrapped herself in a blanket and went downstairs, eventually smelling the fresh coffee as she neared the kitchen.

Once she'd poured herself a cup of joe, she wandered onto the deck and looked at the lake. Down at the dock sat Luke, feet dangling over the edge, fishing. A slight mist rose over the sheltered areas of the lake.

Lorelai's bare feet enjoyed the dew on the grass as she made her way across the lawn to the dock. Luke took a sip of his tea, then moved the mug to free up space for Lorelai to join him.

She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Brr! You're cold. Morning," she said. She sat down close to him and pulled the blanket over both their legs.

"Morning," he replied, tucking the blanket in on her far side.

"Catch anything?"

"Nothing. Just enjoying the beauty of the place."

"I was going to come jump up and down on your bed to wake you," she confessed.

He looked at her skeptically. "What would you have done if I'd tried that with you?" he asked.

"Probably 8-10 for murder, unless I could convince the judge it was justifiable homicide. I bet she'd side with me."

"No shoes?" he asked. "Going all Daisy Mae on me?"

"I was worried you had a boysenberry pie with you. Can't afford to ruin any more shoes."

Luke checked his line when he felt a tug on it, but it was nothing, so they sat and stared at the water for a while.

"Big day, huh?" she said, nudging him with her shoulder.

"I hope so."

When Lorelai started fidgeting, Luke realized that he should go fix breakfast. "My appointment isn't until the afternoon," he said. "Want to take the boat out for a while?"

"Can we do the Titanic thing where we stand on the point and pretend to fly?"

"No, absolutely not. Someone needs to drive the boat. And it's called the bow."

"What? There's no cruise control?"

"Forget the boat. I'm keeping you on solid ground. You can't do as much damage that way."

"Oh, pretty pretty please! Let's go out! I'll behave."

"No you won't. You never have before."

"Nice to know you can count on me, isn't it?"

* * *

"Marilyn, dear, how are you?" cooed Emily in her best DAR voice.

"Emily? How odd to hear from you? Is everything alright?" asked Marilyn.

"Oh, don't be like that, Marilyn. Can't I call Richard's cousin for a chat?"

"How is Richard?"

"He's just fine. Did you have a chance to talk to Lorelai's friend? What happened?"

"He is just the nicest person, Emily, and so handsome. Shame on you for not telling me that he and Lorelai are an item. They are so in love, and perfect for each other."

_I knew it! Lorelai was hiding something from me. Oh, good lord! If this man was stupid enough to get accidentally married on a cruise, how could he possibly be good enough for Lorelai?_

Keeping up appearances, Emily refused to give Marilyn the satisfaction of knowing that she had scooped her. "You know, Marilyn, they really didn't want me discussing it until the divorce was final. Sorry I couldn't bring it up."

"Of course, of course, Emily, I understand, but you know you can trust me with anything, my dear."

_Trust Marilyn? The kleptomaniac who keeps stealing the bar glasses from Trix's house whenever she gets a chance? Fat chance._

"Absolutely, Marilyn, I trust you with my life. So what else is going on?"

"I'm having a little soiree tonight. Lorelai and her friend are going to be there, give them a little fun after all the nasty lawyer work they've had to deal with this week."

"Still annoyed by Michael Stein, cousin? When a lawyer is bent on revenge, there's almost nothing to be done."

"Except find a better lawyer, and that's exactly what I did with Michael, that devil."

"So, Marilyn, your parties are always so much fun. How long has it been since you've seen Richard?"

Marilyn rolled her eyes at this blatant request for an invitation.

"Of course," Emily continued, "we have our regular dinner with Rory tonight, so I suppose it would be impossible this week."

"Rory! I haven't seen Rory since she was about 5 years old. One Christmas, wasn't it? Say, couldn't the three of you come to my party tonight? It has been a long time since I've had a good chat with my cousin or seen that sweet little girl."

"We would love to come, my dear. Seven as usual? We might be a few minutes later, because Rory's schedule at Yale keeps her late on Fridays." Emily mentally calculated the amount of driving time needed, and decided to call Rory to come a few minutes earlier. _Finally a chance to surprise Lorelai. It might help convince her to stop keeping such a big wall between her two worlds._

* * *

Lorelai ran down the stairs when she heard Luke's truck pull into the driveway and park. Still dressed in her silk robe and fresh from her bath, she smelled of all things wonderfully feminine. She had kept her eye on the clock all afternoon, and while it was late, there might be enough time to get a little canoodling in if things had gone well. Through the window she saw him walk toward the door, looking content. _Damn! Can't read that expression._

She flung the door open and demanded, "How did it go? Is it done?"

"Hey. Wow, you smell good." He dropped his keys on the side table and set the briefcase on the floor.

"Luke!"

"Someone's a little impatient, isn't she?" he teased.

"You were gone much longer than I expected. Is it over?"

"Close. We're close. The papers are done, I've signed everything, it's been witnessed. They're now trying to get them filed, but they're not sure if it can be done today."

"So you don't know yet?" She spread her hands and splayed her fingers in frustration.

"Not yet, but it won't be long, Lorelai. It's almost over."

"Damn."

"Hey, why don't you finish getting ready, and after I have a beer, I'll do the same. Then we can go and drown our sorrows at Marilyn's party for a few hours. Then we have the whole weekend to have fun and relax."

* * *

"Rory! You made it! Thanks for being early. Did you bring a change of clothes?"

"Yes, Grandma, but I don't understand why. Are we eating outside?"

"Something like that. We need to drive for a little while first. Are you ready or do you need to take care of your personal needs first?"

"Uh, let me make a quick stop, but then I'm ready."

"Good, I'll have your grandfather pull the car around. Richard!"

…

"Holy crap, Grandma! You don't have to push!"

"Watch your language, young lady. We've got a bit of a drive ahead of us, Rory, there's no time to waste."

After driving for a few minutes, Rory pulled out her phone and checked her messages. Nothing of interest from her mother, and she wondered if she should text her to see if Lorelai knew why Emily would go nuts tonight.

"Rory, is that your cell phone?"

"Yes," she said, unsure of where this was going.

"Can I look at it, please? I'm thinking it may be time for me to have one of those things. It's important to stay in contact, and all my DAR friends have them now."

"Uh, sure. You can just use the buttons here to move the cursor around the screen."

"Oh, very nice. Does it have a power button? Can I turn it off when I don't want to be bothered?"

"Sure, press and hold that button up there."

"Oh! Look at that! The screen has gone completely dark."

"That means it's off, Grandma."

"Good. Now I'll just keep it until we arrive. I've got a little surprise planned."

_This doesn't sound good at all._

"A surprise, Grandma? For who?"

"For whom, dear. For you, of course. We've been invited to a party at Richard's cousin Marilyn's house. It ought to be a lot of fun, and she was saying just the other day how she hadn't seen you in forever, so she and I made a plan to visit her tonight."

"Can I please have my phone back?"

"Not until we've arrived, Rory. I told you it's a surprise."

"Grandma."

"Rory, you know she brings it on herself. There's no reason on earth for Lorelai to keep her Stars Hollow and Hartford lives separate. We're just going to drop in and meet her boyfriend. She should have told us last week anyway."

Rory banged her head against the wall of the car.

"Have you met him, Rory? What's his name?"

"No comment, Grandma, unless I get my phone back and can call Mom first."

"You can talk to your mother soon enough."

* * *

"Whatever you do, don't leave me. I feel very uncomfortable here. This suit isn't helping at all."

"Luke, it's a party. Marilyn will be circulating the whole evening, we don't have to talk to anyone we don't want to. After a couple of hours, we can go. OK?"

He sighed. "I really do appreciate her hospitality…"

"Then it's settled. No one knows us here. Who shall we pretend to be?"

"What? No! I have a hard enough time keeping track of myself, much less be someone else."

"Killjoy. Give me something. I want to play. Or shall we walk around all evening talking about the cruise marriage?"

"Do you have another idea?"

"Hmm, how about we be us, but every time we change our story up a little bit?"

"I still don't like it, but that might actually work. You go first and show me how it's done."

"There's a bar. Go there. Alcohol is a must."

Lorelai sidled up to two men at the bar. "Hi. What's a good drink here?" she asked, pulling Luke by the hand to stand beside her.

"The Manhattans and vodka martinis are great," said the elder of the two men.

"Excellent." She turned to the bartender. "One Vodka martini and a beer, please."

Turning back to the men, she introduced them. "I'm Lorelai and this is Luke."

"Dave."

"Jerry."

"So Luke, what do you do?" asked Jerry, taking Luke by surprise.

Lorelai leaned in confidentially to Jerry. "Luke is a professional baseball player."

Taken aback at first, Luke quickly responded, "Correction. A FORMER pro ball player. I'm way too old for the game now."

"Oh honey, don't be modest. Tell them more."

"Who'd you play for?" asked Dave.

A Triple A farm team down south. Never got called up to the majors, though."

"Still, you lived the dream. Was it great?"

"You know what, Jerry, it really was. There's nothing like going out every day, knowing that your job is to play the best damn game you can."

Smirking, Lorelai backed away, leaving the boys to their fun while she refreshed her and Luke's drinks. Never leaving Luke's line of sight, she watched him animatedly tell baseball stories and discuss teams.

Eventually, two women stopped near her. "Evelyn, who's that with Jerry?" asked the first.

"I don't know, Dorothy, never saw him before. He sure is handsome, though."

Dorothy waved her hand dismissively. "That means he's probably going to be Marilyn's next conquest. There's something fiercely attractive about him."

"Hi ladies," interrupted Lorelai. "Are you referring to that handsome thing over there in the navy blue suit?"

"Yes, do you know him?" asked Evelyn.

"I do. He's my big sweetie bear going on eight years now."

"Look at your cheeks turning pink, honey. You must really love him. What are they talking about?"

"They were talking about baseball when I left. Luke is a former pro player."

"Uh-oh," said Evelyn. "Jerry isn't going to let him go. He loves baseball and can talk about it for hours. What was your name, honey?"

"I'm Lorelai."

"Lorelai, if you want any more time this evening with your honey bear, you'd better save him from Jerry. Otherwise we'll be baseball widows the whole evening." Evelyn had clearly been through this before.

"Why don't we go break up their little game, then?" suggested Lorelai.

The ladies got fresh drinks and walked to the little group.

"Jerry, are you monopolizing Luke's time?" asked Evelyn. "His pretty girl over here was standing all alone while you three talked baseball."

"Oh geez, I'm sorry, Lorelai," said Jerry apologetically. "Luke's stories are just so great. Boy, does he know baseball."

"Hey how about if we all head outside? It's a lot cooler and nice out there."

"Let me just get the next round of drinks," said Luke, to Lorelai's surprise. "You ladies are OK? Yes? Then Jerry? Dave?"

"Luke, your beer looks great. How about if you get us each one as well?" asked Dave.

Dorothy pulled Lorelai aside. "Lorelai, honey, you have to come to more of the parties. If Luke can get Jerry and Dave to switch to beer, we wouldn't have to pour our husbands into the car at the end of the evening. He is a real treasure. And such a sweet, friendly person."

Astonished, Lorelai just agreed. "That's my guy. Can't help loving someone that wonderful."

Luke flashed her an amused look as he passed by, overhearing her comment.

"So ladies, how do you spend your time?" asked Luke good-naturedly.

"Our main focus is charity work with the DAR," said Dorothy.

"Ah, such good work. Lorelai's been thinking about joining. You know, give back to the community." Lorelai threw daggers at him with her eyes.

"Lorelai! That's wonderful! Tell us all your questions, we'll be happy to help you find a good group. Which city do you live near?"

"That would be Hartford," mumbled Lorelai.

"That would be Emily Gilmore's group. She's a stickler for protocol, but she really gets the work done."

Evelyn and Dorothy proceeded to bend Lorelai's ear until she could stand no more. Making her excuses and promising to not forget her application to the DAR, she escaped.

Catching up with the men, she wrapped her arm around Luke's, saying, "Luke, honey, we have to circulate. You boys won't mind if I take my big sweetie bear away from you, will you? I'm missing some Luke-time."

The boys nodded their assent as Lorelai thumped Luke's back hard several times, trying to help him recover from the beer he'd just snorted at the words 'big sweetie bear.'

"Bye fellas!" she waved as she dragged a laughing Luke down the stone stairs into the formal garden.

"Big sweetie bear?" he asked in disbelief.

"The DAR, Luke? How could you tell them I wanted to join the DAR?"

"Take it easy, Lorelai, you told me we'd make up stories and have some fun. I don't know about you, but I had a blast!"

"I've got other plans now," said Lorelai determinedly as she found a secluded corner which had been conveniently provisioned with a vine-covered arch and a bench.

She pulled him to her and kissed him fiercely, pushing his jacket off his shoulders so she could feel his arms and back as she ran her hands over him. Dragging his hands out of the jacket, Luke wasted no time moving his lips down her neck to the pulse points at her collarbone. Pushing the spaghetti strap of her dress aside, he had full access to the curve of her shoulder, dipping down to her cleavage.

Lorelai reached up to his head, pulling him closer while he kissed her exposed flesh. She pressed her body tightly against his, feeling his hard muscles and the heat of his desire through the flimsy fabric of her summery dress. His hands ran up and down her back, finally resting on her bottom. Feeling the heat from his hands, Lorelai moaned, then broke away, panting.

"Luke," she said, collapsing onto the bench, "I'm not sure if I can wait any longer."

"Me neither," he agreed. "We may have to find another solution."

They held each other until their breathing became more normal.

"I need something to drink," said Luke. "You too?"

Lorelai nodded. "I'm going to stay here, if you don't mind. It's nice and private here."

"Good idea. I'll be right back."

She straightened his tie before he left, then moved his jacket to the side of the bench. She fanned herself with her hand, trying to cool down.

Suddenly Luke's jacket peeped, startling Lorelai. His cell phone. Maybe it was the lawyer with good news.

Fumbling about in the pockets, she found it before they hung up and answered.

"Hello?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I must have a wrong number."

The caller hung up and Lorelai closed the phone. Within a minute the phone rang again.

"Who is this?" demanded the caller. "Where's Luke?"

Lorelai recognized the voice this time. "Hello Nicole."

"Lorelai? What are you doing with Luke's phone?"

"He stepped out for a minute. Can I ask him to call you back?"

"Yes, and tell him it's urgent. And important. Very important."

Lorelai sat there after Nicole ended the call, staring at the phone. She was still staring when Luke arrived with drinks.

"What's wrong?" he asked immediately.

"Nicole called, wants you to call her back. She says it's urgent and important."

"What the hell could she want now?" he wondered aloud.

"Baked any pies lately?" joked Lorelai. Luke was not in a joking mood.

"I'd better find out what's going on," he said grimly.

He began to dial and Lorelai stood up intending to walk some distance away. He grabbed her hand and pulled her back to a seated position. "I need you with me."

"Nicole? What's up?" he said curtly.

Her voice was so loud that he held the phone away from his ear for a moment.

"They did? How did you find out? Wow. Stein has a really good network." He looked at Lorelai and gave her a big thumbs up.

"Yes, I know that there's no way out. I don't want a way out, Nicole, I told you that."

"I am sorry for one thing, though. It was wrong of me to let this relationship go past the second date."

"Uh-huh. Yeah. Uh-huh. Bye."

He looked at Lorelai. "It seems that Stein's network is so good that someone from the registry office called them to let them know the papers have been filed. Nicole was calling to tell me it can't be undone now."

"And?" asked Lorelai.

"Yeah, she offered again, but I think she'd kinda have to commit a crime to pull the divorce back now."

Before they knew it, his phone rang again.

"Do you need a secretary, Luke?" Lorelai teased. The news was just sinking in. His divorce was filed. Nothing stood in their way.

The next call was Luke's lawyer, confirming that it was indeed over. There was nothing left to do, and one day his divorce decree would appear in his mail.

"It's over," he said.

"It's over," she echoed.

He picked up their drinks. "We need a toast."

"To endings," said Lorelai.

"And beginnings," added Luke. They closed the toast with a kiss.

"Do you know what I want to do more than anything else in the world right now?" asked Luke.

"I have a few ideas," grinned Lorelai.

"Wrong," he said. "I want to take this damn phone and throw it in the lake."

She laughed. "Look down that path."

Luke saw that the pebbled garden path led straight down to the lake. "Let's go!" They ran laughing down to the lake, where Luke took the opportunity to use his pitching arm to the best of his ability. Dave and Jerry would have been proud.

The walk back to their secluded corner took longer, mainly due to the necking that was unavoidable every few yards.

Once they settled back on their bench, Luke's first question was, "How much longer do we have to stay?"

"Just a few minutes. By the time we've finished our drinks, we can go find Marilyn and say our goodbyes."

"Thank god," said Luke, and they dove in for a fresh round of necking.

"Hello, Lorelai."

Lorelai closed her eyes tightly, refusing to look around her. "Please tell me I've gone insane and that was not my mother's voice."

"You are not insane," said Luke for the first and probably last time in his life.

Lorelai looked at her mother as she and Luke turned to face the visitor.

"Holy crap, Mom, what on earth possessed you to come here tonight?"

"Marilyn invited us. And watch your language. You're in mixed company." Luke coughed down the laugh trying to escape his throat.

"Us? Who else is here?" asked Lorelai.

"Richard and Rory are with me."

Lorelai looked at Luke. "I suppose it's time to meet the rest of the family."

"Hello, I'm Emily Gilmore, since it appears that my daughter is not going to introduce us."

Lorelai put her hands on her temples, desperately trying to prevent the coming headache.

"It's Luke, Mom, you remember Luke."

Emily was truly surprised. "Luke! I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you."

"Hello, Emily."

"How's the divorce, Luke?" she said coldly.

"Done. It cannot be reversed." Luke stood and pulled on his jacket, then stood, calm and confident. Now that he had fixed his mistake, he was not going to feel ashamed of that fact.

"Mom, it's none of your business," said Lorelai, joining Luke.

"You're my business. If he's dragging you into something improper, I should know."

"Wow, wrong on so many levels, Mom. It's my business, period. If I ever choose to share something like that, then I will share it with you. No one else is involved."

"We'll see you both at our table, Lorelai. We're next to the swimming pool." With that, Emily left.

"Welcome to the family, Luke. Have you had enough of me yet? The crazy is strong in this one."

"I take it that the clock for leaving has reset? We now have to sit with your parents for a while?"

"I fear so. Shall we make a break for it?"

"Nah, let's get it over with. Then we have a clear conscience for the rest of the weekend. You want to see Rory anyway, don't you?"

By the time they reached the Gilmore table, Emily had stilled her consternation with three Manhattans.

Rory ran over to them apologizing. "Grandma took my phone hostage, or I would have called you!"

"Don't worry, sugar, it was bound to happen sometime."

"Luke, I'm so sorry I couldn't warn you."

"Don't worry Rory, we're good."

"Grandma says the divorce is finished?"

"She told you?" groaned Luke.

"Welcome to the Gilmores, Luke," Rory commiserated. "Look on the bright side. The food's pretty good."

"Food? There's food?" asked Lorelai. "Show me where the food is."

The buffet was the most peaceful point in the evening. Everyone ate and the conversation was mostly polite, primarily due to the fact that Emily was smashed. That's when the whole family, Marilyn included was regaled with the history of Luke and Lorelai as eyewitnessed by Emily Gilmore, and colorfully told by Drunk Emily.

Dancing offered the couple a chance to escape the table for a few minutes. Luke even danced once with Rory.

As he guided her through the waltz, he commented, "I was wrong. It's not just your mom who's crazy. It's the whole damn family, present company excluded, of course."

She smiled at him. "The really amusing thing about it, Luke, is the fact that it's too late for you to change your mind."

"I wouldn't change it anyway. If nothing else, it's a great adventure."

"I'm happy for both of you, Luke. It was a long time coming, but I'm glad it's here now."

Lorelai and Luke were dancing when Emily and Richard danced by. Drunk Emily insisted they change partners, then proceeded to quiz Luke on his prospects, explain every possible quirk of Lorelai's that he might not yet know (he knew them all, plus some Emily didn't), then finish with self-congratulation on how she figured out they would be a pair long before they knew it themselves.

The couple was saying their goodbyes when Drunk Emily, who had disappeared several minutes earlier, commanded them to stay.

"No one leaves until we've recovered the bar glasses," Emily commanded.

Emily held up a small glass which held a brown liquid. "This is your objective." She peered into the glass, muttered, "scotch," then drank it.

"Bar glasses?" hissed Luke to Lorelai. "What is she talking about?"

She whispered back, "Marilyn has been systematically stealing bar glasses from Trix's house over the years. Mom wants them put back."

"Emily," said Luke, "Lorelai and I are just leaving. Can't you just tell her to put them back?"

"No! Of course not. No one supposed to know they're gone. That's the definition of stealing, Luke."

"That's not the definition of stealing," he argued back to Lorelai.

"Shh! Stay quiet and follow instructions. This must be done for the honor of the family."

Luke looked at Rory for help, but she only shrugged her shoulders. "They outnumber us, Luke. We can't possibly win."

Drunk Emily handed out paper napkins with maps on them. "Each of you has an assigned room. Get to that room, and when no one's looking, put the glasses in your pockets or purse. When you've accomplished your mission, you can go."

She looked at the napkins, then sniffed. "Paper napkins. What was Marilyn thinking?"

"C'mon, Luke, let's get the glasses and go!"

"How about we leave the glasses and go?"

"Are you crazy? She'll hold it over our head for years. Decades. This feud has been going on since 1980. We need the glasses."

"What the hell, let's get the glasses and go." They turned and headed for the door.

"Stop," commanded Emily again. Sighing, Lorelai and Luke turned around.

Emily smirked at them. "Luke, we'll see you next Friday at dinner. Lorelai will tell you the details. Bring the glasses."

Her next Manhattan arrived, and she gratefully took an elegant sip. The couple turned again.

"And Lorelai, I'll send you an application on Monday."

"An application, Mom? For what?"

"The DAR, of course. Your first meeting is in two weeks."

* * *

On the way back to the cabin, Luke shifted in his seat, the stolen bar glasses rattling in his coat pockets. He was pondering. His silence concerned Lorelai. The Gilmore crazy had been strong tonight; even she recognized that she appeared quite sane compared to Emily.

Suddenly he pounded the steering wheel and said, "I remember!"

Surprised, Lorelai asked, "What do you remember?"

"That word I forgot. You know on Thursday, when Marilyn wished us a nice weekend, she called it our FYBO weekend."

"Oh." There was no avoiding it now.

"What's FYBO stand for?" he asked.

She sighed. "Fuck Your Brains Out."

Luke kept his eyes on the road, silent again for a long while.

"OK. Sounds good."

So they did.

* * *

A/N – The closing of this chapter was slightly inspired by a very funny fanfic, the name and author of which I cannot remember, but there were supreme beings playing with L/L's relationship, and Luke's agreement here is deliberately reminiscent of that story, in which he said (I think): _'kay._

A/N – Thanks for reading! I'm now off to finish Relationship Renaissance and A Really Nice Man.


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